Having Identified and Analysed Recurring Themes within the Costume Design of Future World Science-Fiction Cinema How Can I Use This to Inform a Series of My Own Costume Designs?

There are numerous themes that recur within the costume designs of future world science-fiction films. This study concentrates on four films made throughout the 20th and 21st century; Metropolis (Lang, 1927), Barbarella (Vadim, 1968), Blade Runner (Scott, 1982) and Her (Jonze, 2013). These films are used as case studies analysing four of the key recurring themes within future set costume designs. Retro Futurism looks at how past fashions are used to inspire the costume designs of the future and why this makes sense with the recurring cycle of fashion. Contemporary Futurism discusses how and why fashion, artistic movements, culture and society during the time the films were produced have influenced the styling and design choices within the future-set costumes. Future Aesthetics provides a brief look into the colour schemes and fabric choices within future based costume designs and the effect these choices have on characterisation and the kind of future portrayed. Female Sexualisation looks into the portrayal of female characters as objects of desire through their costume designs, and discusses the line between the exploitation and empowerment of the female character through her costuming. The ideas and information gathered through the written portion of the study have been used to inform particular design choices when creating a series of future-set costume designs of my own, based on the characters of the future science-fiction novel 'The Dispossessed' by Ursula Le Guin. These design choices reinforce the importance of the recurring costume design themes to the cinematic genre.Ba_CDCunpub1993_ethesesunpu