science fiction clothing
May. 18th, 2013 07:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethsometimes I get bored and try and find clothes for my characters.
this sometimes involves using the dollmaker sites, but other times I'll browse catalogues.
I have a whole folder full of things from goth websites that'll do for my dystopic futures, including some very sharp pseudo militaria that'll suit for uniforms for starfleets.
it'd be fun to do this sort of thing as a collaborative challenge, but DW isn't really the platform for pictures. I don't know where is because I'm rarely in a picture mood.
it's weird thinking about how much detail we can get out of small changes in costume. like today I'm looking at workwear websites, checking out tunics. The distinctions between a chef's tunic and a dentist's are small yet easily read. http://www.matrixuniforms.co.uk/index.php was where I was looking. they've got some tunics in the Beauty section that'll do lovely for SF uniforms. http://www.matrixuniforms.co.uk/Beauty.51/Ladies_Beauty_Tunics.146/ , particularly http://www.matrixuniforms.co.uk/Beauty.51/Ladies_Beauty_Tunics.146/Jasmine_Long_Sleeve_Tunic__BZ35_.1129.html . The Gents versions don't have half the variety though, and you can't make them match. *sulks*
Other clothes it's more fun to wonder who exactly would wear those. Voluntarily. I do have a character who'd love the Unisex Harlequin pants but ze also wears a patchwork tale coat and makes a living out of being the centre of attention. There's matching hats and neckerchiefs. I have visions of rooms full of chefs wearing these things and just wonder what they'd be cooking.
I reckon I can make my post apocalyptic people wear this stuff because if it's polyester then it'll be around forever. Non-biodegradable. They'd have to grow their own cotton or wool or whatever, but some of these synthetics they could dig out of landfills in later centuries and just scrub up a bit. If it was a sudden apocalypse there'd be warehouses full of such things. Future people wearing a lot of cheap supermarket uniforms because those things will never rot isn't a vision I've read elsewhere, but really, it makes sense.
Really, what is it that makes a bold trim healthcare tunic visually distinct from the tunics of other disciplines? Or the other sorts that are less scifi on account of having collars. I don't understand collars. I mean, why? I know some of them are for ties, but we're back to why very swiftly. If they function as slings or garottes then that at least makes some sense but mostly they just sit there or possibly flash and sing christmas tunes. How many futures still wear ties? But if they don't wear ties, that's a whole source of subtle coding gone.
Humans. We make signals out of all sorts. Considering it's all basically variations on being the monkey with the brightest backside it's ridiculously complex.
The fun with the sci fi challenge is to retain as much of the complexity we've already learned to read as possible, whilst making it recognisably SF. Doing fancy design stuff that you'd have to get a costume department to sew up is one way to do that, but having to buy all the parts from high street stores would be another. I keep seeing stuff that strikes me as perfect for B7 cosplay without technically being something ever seen on B7. So the trick to SF costuming would be to take the easily available but combine it in a way you get a coherent look that is just unfamiliar enough.
And then preferably do it in a mix and match way that works for multiple extras, in a slightly more nuanced way for guest characters, and in ways with depth and range for the core characters.
Costume design is hard, and I don't think I'd get the hang of it even if I studied more.
Is fun though.
this sometimes involves using the dollmaker sites, but other times I'll browse catalogues.
I have a whole folder full of things from goth websites that'll do for my dystopic futures, including some very sharp pseudo militaria that'll suit for uniforms for starfleets.
it'd be fun to do this sort of thing as a collaborative challenge, but DW isn't really the platform for pictures. I don't know where is because I'm rarely in a picture mood.
it's weird thinking about how much detail we can get out of small changes in costume. like today I'm looking at workwear websites, checking out tunics. The distinctions between a chef's tunic and a dentist's are small yet easily read. http://www.matrixuniforms.co.uk/index.php was where I was looking. they've got some tunics in the Beauty section that'll do lovely for SF uniforms. http://www.matrixuniforms.co.uk/Beauty.51/Ladies_Beauty_Tunics.146/ , particularly http://www.matrixuniforms.co.uk/Beauty.51/Ladies_Beauty_Tunics.146/Jasmine_Long_Sleeve_Tunic__BZ35_.1129.html . The Gents versions don't have half the variety though, and you can't make them match. *sulks*
Other clothes it's more fun to wonder who exactly would wear those. Voluntarily. I do have a character who'd love the Unisex Harlequin pants but ze also wears a patchwork tale coat and makes a living out of being the centre of attention. There's matching hats and neckerchiefs. I have visions of rooms full of chefs wearing these things and just wonder what they'd be cooking.
I reckon I can make my post apocalyptic people wear this stuff because if it's polyester then it'll be around forever. Non-biodegradable. They'd have to grow their own cotton or wool or whatever, but some of these synthetics they could dig out of landfills in later centuries and just scrub up a bit. If it was a sudden apocalypse there'd be warehouses full of such things. Future people wearing a lot of cheap supermarket uniforms because those things will never rot isn't a vision I've read elsewhere, but really, it makes sense.
Really, what is it that makes a bold trim healthcare tunic visually distinct from the tunics of other disciplines? Or the other sorts that are less scifi on account of having collars. I don't understand collars. I mean, why? I know some of them are for ties, but we're back to why very swiftly. If they function as slings or garottes then that at least makes some sense but mostly they just sit there or possibly flash and sing christmas tunes. How many futures still wear ties? But if they don't wear ties, that's a whole source of subtle coding gone.
Humans. We make signals out of all sorts. Considering it's all basically variations on being the monkey with the brightest backside it's ridiculously complex.
The fun with the sci fi challenge is to retain as much of the complexity we've already learned to read as possible, whilst making it recognisably SF. Doing fancy design stuff that you'd have to get a costume department to sew up is one way to do that, but having to buy all the parts from high street stores would be another. I keep seeing stuff that strikes me as perfect for B7 cosplay without technically being something ever seen on B7. So the trick to SF costuming would be to take the easily available but combine it in a way you get a coherent look that is just unfamiliar enough.
And then preferably do it in a mix and match way that works for multiple extras, in a slightly more nuanced way for guest characters, and in ways with depth and range for the core characters.
Costume design is hard, and I don't think I'd get the hang of it even if I studied more.
Is fun though.