Looking at many of our past articles, you can tell that we’re HUUUUUGE film nerds. More specifically, we’re big fans of Sci-fi, specifically the ones set in a bleak, futuristic world. Not that we WANT this to be the way the future umfolds, but it’s because we love the juxtaposition of hyper-advanced technology and a hero facing off against an oppressive, totalitarian regime.

There’s just something about that genre of film that hooks us every time. Maybe it’s the cool tech that they promise us. Maybe it’s so that we recognize when our society starts to turn in to V For Vendetta-era London. Or maybe it’s the sometimes amazing, sometimes farfetched, sometimes ridiculous fashions that filmmakers present us with. Regardless of the reasons, we can’t get enough, and here are our favorite examples of films where the fashion is as good as (or better than) the story itself.

1) Children of Men (2006)

It’s the future (duh,) and worldwide infertility causes the worldwide human population to dwindle, and an incredibly xenophobic Britain show that Orwell was not too far off. But Clive Owen, always classy, always dapper, makes totalitarian England look good.

2) The Matrix (1999)

One of the most mind-bending films ever, this classic from the Wachowskis tells us what we always suspected: the real world is a computer simulation, machines run the wasteland that is Earth, and latex and leather outfits are necessary fight our computer overlords.

3) Blade Runner (1982)/ 4) Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Replicants. Roy Batty. Origami. Coats. Blade Runner is possibly the greatest sci-fi movie ever made aside from Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Ridley Scott’s Alien, and that’s in no small part to its neo-noir motif and AMAZING wardrobe that gave it the look of a hard-boiled detective thriller set in cyberpunk-drenc Los Angeles. The film itself took a lot from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, which then has influenced everything from Demolition Man, to The Fifth Element, to even the Star Wars prequels. But what we remember are those killer coats, which made high-collar jackets cool long before Tom Hardy came along.

5) In Time (2011)





This film, essentially a remake of the 70s classic Logan’s Run, tells of a future society where time is the new currency and citizens die at twenty-five to keep the population in check. It’s a to-do movie made great to watch due to the ever-stylish Timberlake, who should always be either wearing a suit, or starting in SNL skits.

6) Aeon Flux (2005)

Those of us who grew up in the 90s and were severe MTV addicts remember the cartoon series Liquid Television and the absolute awesomeness that was the animated version of Aeon Flux. The film version didn’t do a terrible job of transposing that to live-action film years later, and, as you can see, the costume design for the film were NOT disappointing.









7) Minority Report (2002)





While you can argue that this film is not exactly dystopic, we stand firm in that any society where people are jailed without committing a crime is definitely not the direction we hope to go. That said, Tom Cruise is what we call N.N.G. (Never Not Good) and his gear in this film, along with Colin Farrell’s classic suits make the frightening future D.C. look pretty damn good.

8) Equilibrium (2002)

What was it about 2002 that yielded so many of these type of movies? Did something happen in 2001? Anyway…another movie that was clearly influenced by Orwell, Equilibrium shows us a world in which war is no longer a reality. This is accomplished due to the government outlawing any expression of emotion, requiring its citizens to take behavior-controlling drugs to keep them in check. This is utterly terrifying, but the priest outfits worn by future Batman Christian Bale and post-How Stella Got Her Groov Back Taye Diggs are absolutely badass.

9) Gattaca (1997)

This one is not farfetched at all: a world where discrimination is based on perceived genetic purity and superiority? It’s a Nazi wet dream, and makes sense that since we’ll soon no longer discriminate based on race, gender, or sexual orientation (which is a GOOD thing, kids,) we create a caste system of genetic “haves” and “have-nots.”

10) A Clockwork Orange (1971)





Just three years after creating the greatest science fiction movie ever, brilliant filmmaker and certified crazy person Stanley Kubrick adapted this Anthony Burgess freakshow into one of the greatest and most violent film of the decade, while also made good ol’ Ludwig Van Beethoven popular for the kids. He also made the Droog costume of white coveralls, bowler hats, and codpieces look cool. Just don’t act out their beatings and occasions of the ol’ in-out, in-out.

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