Are movie costumes getting too complicated?

[MFP 2020]

Are movie costumes getting really, really complicated lately? Maybe I'm scared off by complex costumes because I barely sew and I don't have a 3D printer and just bought my first good hot glue gun, but I look at the pilot suits in Pacific Rim and the intricately webbed Captain America suits and think, "How the heck is the average Joe going to replicate that at home?"

Just me?

 

[Scareb]

I don't think joe nobody's ability to replicate a costume at home comes in to play when costume designers and directors create the costumes. I think on the list of things to give a **** about when it comes to designing them, that's on the tail end of it.

 

[robn1]

It seems everything is over designed and complicated these days. People have forgotten the elegance of simplicity, now they have to beat you over the head with useless details.

 

[Rotwang]

I start to violently crap blood whenever I hear one of those costume designers that sound like Edna Mode on steroids harp on about how they had to make costumes for a historical piece set in the days of Louis XIV and Versailles and despite having a mountain of period costume references they insist on adding Maori-style facial tattoos or 11th century Pecheneg embroidery, while the hairstyles are a mix of 17th century Cherokee, Dark Age Elbonian with West African hair beads made from beetle shells they found in a tiny bazaar in Southern Mali that specializes in ethnic tchotchkes and dysentery to make it "richer and more visually interesting" ...

As a kid seeing Sabata toting a custom derringer was awesome, it was notable, rare and unusual and that made it so much more special, unlike today where EVERY character has a custom-designer gun, custom-designer sword, custom-designer clothing etc ...

And then there is the race to add more detail, complexity, layers, textures than previous costumes, ever more baroque, ever more complex ...

 

[division 6]

It's a challenge to improve your craft and skill set.

As I said in another thread, if you have a vac former you can easily make the Pacific Rim suits.
Smaller detail bits can be cast in resin.

 

[The Mad Professor]

"How the heck is the average Joe going to replicate that at home?"

Researching the costume materials helps. For the serious detailed work, that requires a good eye and a steady hand, combined with trial and error.

The costume designers often go through the same process.

 

[OldSkoolEffects]

I dunno; when you see in person what looks insane on screen, it can be a letdown to see just how simple it really is.

 

[ave4uevoli]

Suits nowadays are definitely a lot more complicated. However, just think, if you can replicate those robots from Total Recall, then you're like 80% of the way there to replicating a 2014 Robocop suit, and from there your 99% of the way there for a Pacific Rim suit. hahahaha.

Ironic how suits are all more complicated in an attempt to be unique and yet they all look alike.

 

[Wes R]

It's like everything else in hollywood costume design has gone to hell at the hands of hacks with fancy degrees and no brains.

 

[WrenW]

With armor and superhero suits (you mention Captain America), I think costume designers add detailing because modern audiences won't suspend disbelief for a simple, old-fashioned dude in a spandex suit a la Christopher Reeve's Superman. Viewers are quick to scoff at the underwear-on-the-outside and tights, so designers are forced to come up with a modernized (and more intricate) version. Of course, sometimes, that gets a little out of hand and you end up with more of a Christmas tree than a costume (I'm looking at you Thor designers.)

But in the right hands, detailing adds texture to the visual and layers to the characters. The first time I saw close-ups of the Game of Thrones costumes (*not a movie, I know), I was floored. (Costume Embroidery & Illustration by Michele Carragher for Film & TV - Homepage) Personally, as a former costumer designer, I enjoy discovering interesting details in costumes--it adds to the experience for me.

 

[joberg]

More detailed for HD that's why

 

[Laspector]

I know this is a fairly tongue in cheek topic but I really hope no movie costumer designer ever says "We better not make this suit too complicated, it will be too hard for the fans to replicate."

 

[MFP 2020]

I'm sure their interest is in serving the story and making the best costumes they can with the technology available. And as a viewer, I'm thrilled about that. More detail can mean greater immersion.

Still, I can't help but think of a certain line from Jurassic Park...

 

[simiouno]

Popeye is about as far as I'll go ! !

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Old thread bump but in keeping with the thread topic, I'm reminded of a line I heard Deborah Nadoolman (god queen of costume design: Thriller, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Blues Brothers, Animal House, Coming to America, etc) say recently in an interview that the foremost thing costume design should be about is whether it is appropriate for the character to be wearing it.

 

[Psab keel]

I can see both sides of the argument. While it can be a nightmare to try and replicate I do appreciate the thought and skill put into each costume. Often I can love a costume more than the movie in which it appears.

There is something to be said for simplicity in design. Often weathering to simpler costumes can add a whole dimension of realism.

 

[Kovnyn]

There can be, and often is, beauty in simplicity. My costuming tends to fall more in line with OT Star Wars costumes than more modern Sci fi. Star Trek costumes were fairly simple, but are now absurd in their complexity. Military service uniforms are generally utilitarian without a whole bunch of arbitrary bells and whistles. Civilian clothing is the same, in most respects. If you've ever seen Tacticool clothing with pockets and pouches everywhere, looking like they stepped out of a Rob Leifeld comic, it's silly. That sort of gear is next to impossible to acquire muscle memory to know what is where and in what order of operations. Looks neat, but next to useless in reality.

While complex costumes might look visually appealing on screen, an unnecessarily complex costume pushes the suspension of disbelief outside the boundary of believability.

The average movie goer doesn't look at props and costumes the way the average RPFer does. Most people think Rubies gets costumes right for the Halloween party they go to. We are not most people.

 

[Joek3rr]

I feel like Sci-fi ships have gone through something similar. There's so much going on, the designs are so busy, they're overwhelming. Some of the new Star Trek designs are guilty of this.

 

[Riceball]

I don't mind the details/complexity of a lot of costumes these days but I do feel that there needs to be balance between complexity and simplicity. This is something that I feel the costume designers for the Marvel movies have done very well, their costumes have a good amount detail to them but not to the point of being overwhelming. DC, on the other, they have a habit of going overboard with the detail, Batman and Superman, in particular, I find to be way too busy. There's so much texturing on their costumes that it doesn't give your eyes anywhere to rest, for Superman, if they had just left the shield on his chest smooth that would have made the costume look so much better, it gives your eyes a place to rest on.

 

[vader45]

Yes! A lot of designs in movie I feel are overly complicated. Power Rangers and Cyborg are two examples that come to mind. Cyborg looks like he is made up of millions of little tiny metal stones. I think that to much detail. It's a bitch to draw somwthing like that. I see why the comic counter parts are plain yet still get the job done.