100 Things That Still Make Being Me Just That Bit Better... 94
Peacocks in Space, or What the Over-Dressed Rebel is Wearing For the Revolution.
It is a simple fact that all future clothes in science fiction film/TV/comics whatever dates as quickly, if not moreso, than fashion in the real world. What looked like the Whateverth Century in 1955, in 1975 looked... old, even quaint (though of course, by 1985 the 1975 version of the Whateverth Century probably looks even more dated than 1955 and so on and so forth. Fashion is the ficklest master of them all...)
However, I have to admit I have always thought there was something truly if maniacally inspired about much of the fashion of the future in Blakes 7; what they lacked in budget (and oh HOW they lacked a budget!) they really did - hearteningly often - make up for in pure inspiration. I mean, how can you NOT love a show that does its shopping at a place called Hard-Core Leather... and sends out its computer tech/head geek/anti-hero dressed like... this?
(click to enlarge)
(yes, those are thigh boots with the silver. And you wonder why we love him? :)
And of course, it's a coincidence born of the changes in costume director, but one of the things I also love is the way there's a vague but discernable thread of development in the changes to costume - you could say the fashions we see Our Heroes in do change and progress in a way that makes sense with the characters and the storyline*, starting with the plain, restrained clothes of the Inner Worlds (the detail, presumably, in the fabric and finish) and the muted ragbag criminal class outfits, through to the first signs of what was to come in Series 2 and 3 (can I say how I like the small fact that Jenna - the original space pirate - led the way in Series 1 and some of the others' first attempts to break out were a little... yes well:)
And was to come was Space Pirate/Peacocks In Space, with a fair amount of shimmer and glitter and flowing lines in S2 (tightening up in S3 - less of the soft drapes long skirts, and faux-Tudor robes , more leather and suede , PVC and loud colours) and then in late S3 a slight space-military influence (come on, space-military in B7 terms, folks: more and more grey and black, tight fit and flashy trim, the uniform-like cut and yep, the studs) that turned into pretty much all we saw Our Heroes in, in the grimmer-but-more-cartoonish S4....
I have loved Our Heroes fashion sense (err, for want of a better word) from the moment I became a fan; when doing episode reviews all that time ago, I don't think I ever missed a quick rundown of WhatTheHellAreTheyWearingNOW???, usually before I got to boring stuff like the plot.
And every time I watch it again I still do.
***
(I'm concentrating here on Our Heroes, as the whole Federation would take waaayyy longer to go through, and with Servalan - camp queen extraordinaire - there's very little change barring some decline by S4, Sleer being an darker and at the same time slightly coarser caricature of herself. Which again, actually works with what happens to her over the course of the four series)
(All links are to Lisa's Video Frame Capture Library, with thanks. All opinions are mine own, and as they have been mine own opinions for many years now, are probably not going to change...)