Welcome back to another Future Fashion post! Today our Fashion Photos hail from Battle for Planet of the Apes 1973 starring Roddy McDowell, Natalie Trundy, Claude Atkins, and Severn Darden. This is the closing movie of the original Planet of the Apes franchise. Now before we get started there are some POTA movies that did not make this list which I'm going to explain now.
Beneath the Planet of the Apes 1970: The second installment in "The Planet of the Apes" series. Here, Brent (James Franciscus) an earthling is sent to find the astronauts of the original film and discovers a world of intelligent, talking apes, along with an underground cult of mutant humans who are the survivors of a nuclear blast years ago. This film is a dystopian movie because it takes place after the first and is still part of Future Earth. The reason this movie wasn't given its own post is because we didn't watch it. My sister who was choosing the movies for this challenge is not a fan of this movie and refused to watch it. Even though I have seen the movie before and could easily have done a post about it on my own, i didn't feel that it was in the spirit of the challenge, so I opted to forego the the whole thing.
Escape from The Planet of the Apes 1971: In this third installment to "Planet of the Apes" franchise, Cornelius (Roddy McDowell), Zira (Kim Hunter), and Milo (Sal Mineo) flee their world before it's destroyed, and travel back in time to present-day America. When the humans discover that the trio are intelligent and capable of speech, they treat them as experimental research animals/ show ponies until they attempt to escape. We did watch this movie, but as it takes place in Present-day America not the future it doesn't fit the Future Fashion Category so no accompanying outfit or post.
Conquest of The Planet of the Apes 1972: In this Fourth film to the "Planet of the Apes" series, the apes turn the tables on the human Earth population when they lead a revolt against their cruel masters in the distant year of 1990 largely thanks to Cesar (Roddy McDowell) the son of Cornelius and Zira. By doing this it creates the time loop that leads to the first film. In "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" the space/time continuity between this and the first film is a little skewed, but otherwise makes sense. This one is actually an honorable mentions and you will see a few more of these pop up if you continue reading these posts. So even though this does take place in the Future, this is technically an end of the world film, not a dystopian film, or course it can be argued for both, but for mine and my sister's purposes we put it in our End of the World category.
Now that we've got through all that, we can get back to our film of the day Battle for The Plant of the Apes. "Battle for the Planet of the Apes" is the final chapter in the sci-fi movie series. In this film, a tribe of human atomic bomb mutants lead by Govenor Kolp (Severn Darden) are out to destroy the so called peaceful ape tribe run by Cesar (Roddy McDowell). Makeup by John Chambers and Costumes by Morton Haack. Since last week I took inspiration from the Apes of the movie, this week I decided to focus on the Humans, which seems a good way to wrap up this franchise as it really is about the intaractions between these two species. Also because when comparing the two movies the Ape costumes have not changed much since the first film so the humans offer whole new looks and stylelines for me to pull from. Once again I'm not trying to replicate Morton Haack's costumes, I'm trying to recreate the overall mood that were given off by these looks.
I actually thought while designing these two is look it was going to be harder than the first, ask it required so many more pieces. As it turns out even with the the number of garments doubling, I was still able to make this look in under a week, where as last weeks post took me closer to three. I told you that tunic was hard! Anyways lets wook our was from top to bottom.
The Hat, if you watch the film you'll notice all our mutant friends have matching hats, in varying shades ranging from black to grey. They are soft which, for a bunch of people who live underground makes them more decorative than anything. I assume the purpose is to hide their balding heads, radiation poison make your hair fall out 😉. This is my favorite part of the humans look and the thing I most looked forward to making. I couldn't tell you why, I like their nerdy hats so sue me.
I'm pretty sure they used a knit for theirs, I opted for a cotton/poly blend purchased from Walmart, I actually have a whole bolt of the stuff because I buy by the bolt when its a good deal. The shape was more or less easy to come by, I actually made it too big at first and had to take in that center seam about an inch to make it fit my head. It's four intersecting pieces, I did not interface it which in retrospect I should have, and would if I were to make another. It is lined and topstitched which helps to shape it out a little.
The Top, they are probably wearing turtlenecks, when you look at the picture it looks like he's wearing a turtleneck when you watch the film it looks like they are all in turtlenecks. I could have bought a turtleneck, but then I would have been deprived of making one of these little tops that I love so much. I mean it's basically a cropped sleeveless turtleneck, I had wanted to do it out of a ribbing, but Joann's had like, nothing, so I used the only cotton based knit I could find. The pattern I made by tracing a top I already have like this. It's an easy top, I make it often enough. Though this be the first time in black, but it does give it a very spy-esque feel! On a side note, please pay attention to this shape as it will be coming up in future posts, this is a very futuristic shape lol.
The Jacket, remember last week when we talked about the key elements of the Ape costumes? Well for the Apes what really sold the look was the green tunic with leather accents, if it had just been a green tunic, it would have been missing a crucial element that tied it into the original costume. Up until now we have a cap, that kinda looks like a helmet, and a knit crop top. While the cap does do a good job of tying the outfit to the movie it really isn't a strong enough key element. It needs a little help, that's where the jacket comes in. It is a huge piece of the original costume, right? The human mutants, have a very mercenary feel to them, and that's created through the use of this round hat, and and zippered jacket. Going into it I knew this piece would be challenging because of the color. Doing black, on black, on black is very hard because it does not always photograph well. This meant I would have to be thoughtful with my use of fabric texture, to try to give the camera something to pick up on. Remember how I said I wanted to use ribbing on the top, ribbing is textured, so it reflects light differently than something smooth.
I went a similar direction with the jacket using a denim, textured, fabric, and at that actually two different shades of black within the same jacket. I did not draft this pattern, I instead used McCall's M5538.
I knew I needed a zippered Jacket with a standing collar to really sell the look of our mutant humans, and I could have drafted one, but it was 1.99 pattern day at Joann's and you know, why do extra work if you don't have to? This jacket had the two elements I was looking for, bonus it was unlined already, so I didn't need to make a facing for it!!! Like I said I picked denim over fleece because denim is textured and also way cooler than fleece and I only make cool clothes. This also worked really well for me because it has a yoke where I was able to use my contrasting black denim, even if it had not already had a yoke I would have put on in because yokes are awesome, and also texture lol. I swapped out the inset pocket for a patch pocket, and also used my contrasting black denim for the undersleeve. I really like how the jacket turned out as it really completes the look.
McCalls M5538 Pattern Review: This pattern is super simple, the inset pocket may be difficult for a novice sewer, but can always be skipped or swapped out for a patch pocket like what I did. I will state that I did abandon the directions which lead to me sewing down the collar before putting in the zipper, I forgot about that bit, so please don't be like me, use the instructions. Also I used denim when it is meant to be made out of fleece, if you're not an advanced sewer, you should probably stick to recommended fabrics.
The Pants, these were a last minute addition, initially I had planned to wear my skinny jeans, then I though, no that's not right, if I didn't make all the garments, I'm not really fulfilling the requirements of the challenge. My next thought was to wear my black dungaree's, id didn't make them for this challenge, but I did make them. But after completing the jacket and putting i on I felt that paired with the dungaree there would be too much volume, and I would be swallowed up by the clothes. My niece, who had been staying the week with me, had been going on an on about how much she like cargoes, and wanted a pair. And I don't know but it jogged something lose and I thought cargoes, that's it! This was at the end of the week and I was like I have a pattern! I also had a shiny cotton that came from who knows where, I found it in my studio. It had a tag that said 4yrds, but there was like 2 1/4 so I must've used it on something, that or I missed one from the Mystery Box Sewing Challenge. Anyways it was just enough.
I pulled out my pattern Simplicity 2477, this is a Project Runway pattern, I've made it once before back when I was still learning to sew.
So if you don't know much about the Project Runways they were created to give you the opportunity to be a designer, by providing you with a lot of variations. Variations being design elements you can use fairly easily to create your own look. I basically do this all the time like e lat week the I said I used the Sassanch dress pattern to create the Zira tunic, that's a variation. I ended up settling on the F view, and just added the B view cuffs. I skipped all the tabs and belt loops but kept the pockets.These are a surprisingly slim pant, for cargoes. I would have had these done in a day, but need to buy buttons so I had to wait till Shipping Saturday to pick those up. With Pants being complete all that was left was picture time!!
Simplicity 2477 Pattern Review: The first time I made these I really struggled which is why it's taken me like 10yrs to try my hand at it again. So I do not recommend these pants for any novice who has not put in a front fly, or cut away pocket before. For the most part these are pretty straight forward. If you go for option F like me with the patch pockets they are going to be a little easier than the cutaway version. I don't like the way the instructions tell you to do the front fly, I overall think the instructions can be hard to follow because the pants have so many variations. Their are also a lot of small pattern pieces you have to keep track of because they are easily lost. I actually lost the front fly and had to draw up a new one. This pattern also has a curved waistband which is cool. All in all I did like the pattern but would recommend it for a moderate/advanced sewer.
As you know styling can often make or break a look, for this outfit I once again went with a neutral makeup, very minimalist, I figured people living underground had little cause for makeup. I also pulled my hair up under my cap, did have braids on but they looked dumb with the hat. I also paired my outfit with a pair of desert boots. The location is inside the Praise Chapel Mausoleum, under construction, I wasn't sure at first but I actually think the random stuff added to the end of the world emotion. Once again it was blazing hot, I rushed through this shoot and did my best to look like an Ape hating militant mutant.
Since we have two posts under our belt I'd like to compare and point out continuing themes.
The Plant of the Apes design features: Asian style-lines, heavy fabrics, leather accents, earth tones.
Battle for The Planter of the Apes design features: Heavy fabrics, grayscale color pallet, militant vibes and style-lines.
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