This is the 5th Movie in my Dystopian Designing, It definitely feels like I've come a lot further than I actually have. Sorry this one took so long I opted to use real leather in this outfit which presented me with some difficulty. Mostly because I was using real leather but I'll get into that more a little bit later.
Mad Max 1979 starring Mel Gibson, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Joanne Samuel, Steve Bisley, Nick Lathouris, and Tim Burns. It takes place in a not to distant future in which oil has been depleted and the world had been plunged in to war, famine and chaos. In Australia Max (Mel Gibson) an officer with The Main Force Patrol, rages war against a notorious Biker Gang wreaking havoc on the county, and responsible for the murder of his wife and child. The movie (and franchise) have had a huge impact on pop culture and post-apocalyptic fiction. The makeup for this film was done by New Zealand hair and makeup artist Lesley Vanderwalt who won an Academy Award for her work on the 2016 sequel to this film. Clare Griffin is credited with designing the costumes for this film and unfortunately I was unable to find much information on her.
I thought I would start with Toecutter's Gang and then move on to Mad Max. Fun Fact: The Bikers in the movie were played by real life Biker Gang "The Vigilantes", cool huh? So when it comes to the costumes on this movie, I know the film was short on funding so I'm sure that had a huge part to play in the costuming decisions, but honestly all those decisions were spot on! I love the costuming choices, when you think about Post- Apocalyptic outfits you imagine leather and armor and fur, with dirt and mud everywhere, and like this was the beginning of that. So compared to so of the later films I'm sure this look here feels a little underwhelming, but it actually makes sense when you look at this as the beginning. It's only a couple years into the oil depleted future, and society is just starting to devolve. We're only beginning to see the evolution of this new aesthetic, obviously bikers wear leather, but now they are adding fur, and metal, and armor to their clothes and vehicles. Which only reads better as you continue to watch movies from this franchise, this look becomes more, and more extreme with each sequel, which relates directly to a society becoming more and more extreme.
Mad Max and the police in General: I have to make the same observations about this looks as I did with the Bikers. I do feel that the budget influenced the choices made here, because they are so subtle for an apocalyptic film. But really it works so well!!!! He wears a modified version of a motorcycle cop uniform with leather pauldrons and a sawed off shot gun! In Chic Black it's such a perfect look, I'm just like how did she think of this!! I mean look at the image above it says SO MUCH with SO LITTLE I think some modern costume designers could take note of how a little can go a long way.
Okay so moving on to MY version, which I'm super proud of but I'll let you be the judge on if I won this one or not 😉
So let's start with the pants, unfortunately during my photoshoot of this look I fell off my car, and managed to shred these pants. NO worries I am OK!!! But these pants were destroyed!!!! I wish I had photographed them before wearing them out, needless to say these are not going to be for sale in my shop lol. I made them from some black pleather leftover from my Cat Woman corset I made back in like 2015.
I used Simplicity Pattern 2477 I already reviewed this pattern in Alpha and Omega so if you want to see my thoughts on it feel free to read about it there!!!
I used this pattern as my base because I was to lazy to make a Jean Block in my size, I did have to modify the back to make a yoke and also draw up some patch pockets. The pockets I traced from my favorite pair of jeans which meant they were the perfect size. For the yoke I did the same, I measured the yoke on my favorite pants, traced that out on the back of my pattern, cut it out and then added the seam allowance.
For the longest time I've wanted a leather jacket, back in 2016 when I was working on my menswear collection I purchased a lot of leather but never quite got round to making this one. I was happy to have a reason to do it now.
All of my fabric is from Leather Treasure: https://leathertreasureshop.com
I used pattern M7694 when you read suggested fabrics on the back of this pattern real leather is not listed. I still used it anyways. The only alterations I made were shortening the sleeves and the length of the jacket because I'm short lol. I thought I had enough leather when I started this project but I ran out just before getting to the sleeves. That prompted me to order one more hide, the leather on the sleeves had a different treatment making it shinier. Which in my opinion really worked out because they look special. I also used the leftover pieces to make the paldron I attached to the right shoulder. I had to measure, mark, and pound all them rivets in, that was fun!
The pattern itself was surprisingly simple, and straightforward, if it had been more complicated I don't know I would have succeeded with the added complication of the leather. The most difficult technique for this one is the welt pockets (I always struggle with those) so if you are comfortable with welt pockets, putting in zippers, and lining this is a great pattern for you. Great sewing project for anyone with moderate to advanced sewing skills!!! I'm only just now realizing my zipper ended up on the opposite side of Mel Gibson's oh no!!!
I wanted to buy a fake shotgun for this photoshoot to use as a prop, but apparently it is illegal in California to buy fake guns. So I had to do without, I still tried to capture the overall mood. You guys will just have to let me know how I did, am I Mad Max enough???
Styling: As always styling is crucial, under the jacket I wore a rhinestone harness to capture the light a little, as well as fingerless gloves, and a leather garter on top of my pants. I paired this all with some riding boots! For hair and make up I wanted to keep it simple so I just slicked back my hair, and went with a neutral makeup look. I work my extra pointy cat eyed frames from Zeelool and a bracer (this one comes a set and will be available to purchase in my shop shortly so stay tuned). Hopefully y'all agree with my styling choices, if not I'd love to hear what you'd do differently!!
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