It's the first Fashion Friday of August! I hope you all are doing well, today's Dystopian Film is Demolition Man (1993) Staring Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock, Benjamin Bratt, Denis Leary, and Bob Gunton. The movie is about cop John Spartan's (Stallone) and super criminal Simone Phoenix's (Snipes) ongoing war. Some innocents get caught up in the middle resulting in both men being sentenced to Cryoprison. They awaken 32 years later only to continue the war.
Going into this build I had a lot of iconic looks to choose from.
We have these Asian inspired robes being worn by Dr. Raymond, these football inspired pads being worn by Wesley, and a sort of army-esque look for Stallone. I considered all these options (minus the football pads, that was never going to happen) and yet there was one look that made such an impact on me I couldn't get it out of my head.
Lenina Huxley's (Sandra Bullock) fancy dinner dress, I mean when am I going to get another chance to make a fancy dress? They're not exactly a staple of the Dystopian flick. So I switched up my concept and decided to dress for dinner at Taco Bell.
Remember, I'm not recreating her dress, I'm making my own dress inspired by her dress 😉 Looking at her dress my guess is it's made from either a muslin, or some other base fabric, then had glass pebbles glue to it. In my head I thought, what if I do the same thing, only with mirrors? Well it was a good thought but not at all practical, and I would have to buy a lot of tiny mirrors, not to mention it would be impossible to launder, extremely heavy and fragile. None of those qualities make a good dress. Therein I decided to go with a sequin dress.
I started with the fabric, I picked it up at my local Joann's, a part of me wanted something more obnoxious, but I'm glad I ended up with the one I did. Sequins can be challenging to sew with, and this one even cost me one of my needles. You'll probably notice the one from the movie is a lot more fitted, because I had to remove the sequins from the seams, a slow and arduous task, I tried to minimize my use of seams. I went for a very 60's A-Line cut with no darts or waist seams.
I did this by using my Contour Bodice Block and drafted a halter top, I then added fullness to the dress which remove the darts. I did a similar thing to the back. I cut both of these pieces out of the sequin fabric. As the fabric is a sheer netting I knew I needed to line it somehow, at first I had planned to use a lining, but then I thought maybe I have something nicer I could work with. I looked through my studio and found this lovely off-white fabric I had picked up at a Yard Sale. I'm going to say it's a polyester although from the feel and way it presses it might be a rayon. Either way it's a very pretty piece of mystery fabric in a 35 width, I had just enough to make this dress happen.
For the collar I drafted a mandarin collar only I sewed it on backwards so the opening would be to the back where I used a sliding hook clasp. Because of the design of this dress no zipper was needed.
Now that it was doned it was time to head over to Taco Bell for for Dinner and Dancing.
This is my third photoshoot, and once again I moved it along as quick as I could due to the heat. While I'm happy with the outcome it is really challenging to push through. For my hair I went with a side art which is how Sandra Bullock wheres it in the movie, and did a really neutral makeup. I'm beginning to think makeup won't be very popular in the future.
So lets compare and 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.
Demolition Man: Asian style-lines, heavy fabrics, leather garments, militant vibes and style-lines, and modified football pads. Also some formal wear!