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As sci-fi takes over the cinemas, we investigate how to add an otherworldly flavour to our S/S15 wardrobes
This is Ground Control to Major Tom, take your protein pills and put your helmet on, because we’re about to have a lesson in Space Age Style. With Jupiter Ascending released this week, whispers of a rebooted X Files churning around the rumour mill, and Sci Fi queen and star of the latest issue of AnOther Magazine Sigourney Weaver about to return to our screens in artificial intelligence thriller Chappie, it’s been a very good year for all things outer space, and we’re only two months in. To celebrate the galaxies and beyond we cast our minds back through time, space and movie history with the key things we've learnt from our favourite Space Age movies. From how to dress during an intergalactic invasion to what to wear if you’re a man-eating alien, get ready for sartorial lift-off.
How to dress during an intergalactic invasion
Confronted with a bunch of face-hugging, stomach-ripping aliens, on a return trip to Earth can be pretty scary. Especially when you have nothing to wear. But fear not, just channel your inner Sigourney Weaver in Alien and opt for spacecraft urban chic. Think pared down blue boiler suits, khaki combos, killer curls or a shaven head. Most importantly, protect your wardrobe from acidic alien goo, and forgo all things dry clean only.
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Always make sure your outfit is streamlined (just in case you have to jump off a building)
If The Fifth Element taught us anything, it’s that you must always wear streamlined outfits when jumping off a ledge. Reconstructed in a New York laboratory, orange-haired humanoid Leeloo, played by Milla Jovovich, was so bewildered by her alien surroundings that she crawled out of a tunnel and dived off a very high building. However, thanks to her white-bandaged catsuit, designed by the legendary Jean Paul Gaultier, she flew to the ground safely. Plus she looked pretty foxy when she landed in front of taxi-driving heartthrob Korben Dallas, played by Bruce Willis.
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What to wear if you’re a man-eating alien
For a man-eating alien whose task is to seduce hapless young men from Scotland, taking them back to her lair, and dissolving their bodies in liquid, finding the right thing to wear can be very challenging thing indeed. But not for alien seductress Scarlet Johansson in Under the Skin, who blends in stylishly with a faux fur coat, green dress, brown wig, and someone else’s skin.
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How to dress like you rule the world (literally)
After the death of his mother in the hotly anticipated Jupiter Ascending, the eldest son and heir to the House of Abrasax, the most powerful alien dynasty who made their fortune trading youth serum with other planets, Balem Abrasax wants to rule the world for himself. But with rival claims from his two siblings and an unlucky earth-born janitor named Jupiter Jones, Eddie Redmayne’s character has his work cut out for him. Find yourself in a similar situation? Take a leaf out of Balem’s book and opt for a long black cloak with gold embroidery, gold cuffs, heavyweight armour, killer abs, a gold choker, and the world will be yours.
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Orange is the new black
Nothing says Asteroid take down quite like a bright orange spacesuit with a royal blue rim. Bright, bold, and gravity efficient, make like Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck in Armageddon and save the world in style. The future is bright, to save it you must wear orange.
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Black is the new black (especially if you are the Chosen One)
Orange might be fine when you’re saving the planet from an asteroid, but it simply won’t cut it when you’re taking down the Matrix with Morpheus and the gang. In these situations only black will do. Think PVC trench coats and suits made from leather. Accessorize with a pair of black shades, a red pill and a bent spoon and it’s all aboard the Nebuchadnezzar for you, my friend. After all, the Chosen One needs a carefully chosen outfit.
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What to do if you’re having a bad hair day
From the power of black helmets (nothing says dark overlord more than Darth Vader’s choice of accessories) to the chicness of long Jedi cloaks, The Star Wars franchise has taught us a lot in the way of Space Age style. But nothing can compare to the lessons it taught us in managing our barnets. Limp hair? Style it into two pain aux raisin type buns a la Princess Leia. Lackluster locks? Make like Queen Amidala and style it into a large headdress. Unruly frizz? Comb it back off your face like Jedi warrior Qui-Gon Jinn or simply chop it off like Obi-Wan Kenobi and leave a single plait at the back. Bad hair days be gone and may the force be with you.
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White is the chicest colour
The colour of the moon from far away and the shade of the stars, white is the chicest colour in all the galaxies. Just look at the lunar shuttle stewardesses in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey; with their chalky turbans to match their milky pant-suits, they’re simply out of this world.
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Always coordinate outfits with your blind angel boyfriend
He was the white-winged, peroxide-haired angel and she was the bouffant blonde, silver gun carrying, thigh-high boot wearing, black stripe and pearlescent body repping special agent tasked with bringing the evil Professor Durand Durand back down to earth. Together they were Pygar, last of the Ornithanthropes, and Barbarella, the most stylish couple in all the galaxies. Fight evil in style by coordinating outfits with your boyfriend.
Read our in-depth interview with Sigourney Weaver in the latest issue of AnOther Magazine, out now.
