Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin
I remembered an example of symbolic use of clothing from the Enterprise TV series.
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Excellent example (snipped).
In Babylon 5, the civilian clothes were intentionally crafted to be reminiscent of military uniforms. This was supposed to communicate that, following near-extinction in the Earth/Minbari war, humanity had become more militaristic. When the crew was fighting the shadow war, they got new uniforms, right? The clothes were crafted (in-universe and by the costume designer) as a meld between human and minbari fashion.
In Firefly, the interviews with the set and costume designers include a lengthy discussion of how costumes, weapons and living spaces were used to communicate the characters' personalities.
In real life, blue jeans were a social statement. It's easy to forget that for decades, they were blue-collar clothes for laborers. Adoption of jeans by upper-class college students was a political statement of solidarity with the workers. (The fact that jeans became expensive, exclusive, designer clothes, complete with buying them pre-faded and even ripped probably makes an inadvertent statement about how authentic that solidarity turned out to be.) The Che hats are a similar statement, this time denoting solidarity with radical, revolutionary politics rather than a social class. In both cases, the fashion was stripped of much of its political meaning by the time it hit mainstream culture and became a fad.
False brigandine armor was worn that didn't even have any armor value, just a coolness factor. Epaulets were big in the 80's, but I never saw anyone use them for their intended purpose. People often wear clothes from trendy sports that they never play. Schoolgirl uniforms became fetishized, and then from there went somewhat mainstream as yet another way of saying "sexy".
So this could find expression in trends in science fiction as well. I already used the example from Sterling of formalwear that is reminiscent of spacesuits.
Are we even a few years away from bulky single earings inspired by handfree sets? They'll be
so gauche when implants come out, then kitsch retro a few years later (even for people who already have implants). Same for HMD's and handhelds. Haptic interfaces with gloves might lead to a return of the opera glove as a fashion accessory (and about time, I say!). Bioplas contacts (Ultra Tech) could lead to a new set of fashionable eye art, from colors to
changing colors to sclera colors.
If power armor got big, the question is, what underwear do you wear
inside your suit? Tights and leotards, maybe even with bulges that suggest a faux relief system, might suddenly become fashionable (even if they're ugly to our modern eyes). Sometimes it's a reaction
against a movement or group. If replicants/bioroids are made, perhaps people will prefer less revealing fashions than they do today, simply to distinguish themselves from the slave class.
So to come up with cool sci fi fashions, you need a sense of what's going on, politically, socially, technologically, and culturally. You also need a sense of history so you can figure out what's coming into style, what's going out of style, and what's been out long enough to be pleasantly retro.
Wow, this was like ten times as long as I'd intended. So to sum up: Fred's example was really cool.