EFNY Snake Plissken camo trousers

MFP 2020

MFP 2020

Sr Member
Because one project is never enough, I'm thinking about doing Snake Plissken's costume from Escape from New York. The jacket is easy (Magnoli); but his trousers will be fully custom. As far as I can tell it's a custom camo pattern. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.) I can't find a single discussion about this on the whole entire Internet. :eek

Any ideas on the best way to extrapolate the pattern from screen grabs? Any recommendations on where to have fabric printed? (Or would painting a pair of gray trousers be a better alternative?)

Thanks.
 
The pants look custom to me, I've never seen a pattern like that before plus the cargo pockets are on the front of the thigh instead of the side where pretty much everybody puts them. You might be able to hand paint them onto a pair of grey BDUs, the patterns large enough that it shouldn't take too long but there's still the issue of the oddly placed cargo pockets. There are places out there, just do a Google search, that will do custom fabric printing but none of the sites that I've seen print on any of the fabric types commonly used for making BDUs. Since it is a fairly large and simple pattern you could probably do it yourself on your own fabric and then make the pants yourself or hire someone to do it. You could print the pattern by either using one of those diy home silk screening kits or try taping the areas you don't want colored and using either spray paint or fabric dye although the dye would probably bleed so paint might be the better option.
 
Thanks. I just registered on that forum last week and somehow missed the discussions.

Those SPLAV BDUs would be a good start if they had no camo pattern at all.

I happen to have an advance press kit for EFNY and found a nice detail shot.
 
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I saw a guy dressed as Snake at a con back in the early/mid 80's, and his costume looked great, especially back then. EFNY has always been one of my favorite movies, and the movie poster F'n rocks! I've been a huge fan since I first saw the movie way back in the 80's and have always wanted this costume too. I'm going to enjoy watching your progress. Good luck!
 
I'd also love to get my hands on an accurate pair of pants. Also thought you might be interested in seeing this amazing pair of custom made boots I bought from a fellow board member. They are as close to screen accurate as I have ever seen and great quality.
 
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The Russian SPLAV pants are certainly close in terms of the pattern of the pants and color scheme but the actual camo pattern is still off. Snake's camo pattern has a very distinctive near vertical orientation to it while the SPLAVs are more horizontal and looks almost like a recolored version of the old US woodland camo.
 
Those boots are a-MAY-zing! Streets ahead of the Motor Cowboy replicas.

This project is already starting to scare me. Should I start playing the lottery first? :)
 
It looks like stretchy cloth, and the pattern lines up pretty well over the pockets. Although there is a side seam.

Hand painted? Or a chunk of camo cloth used at a different angle?

While looking for links I found an idea for a sequel. Snake on a Plane!
 
They made at least two pairs. :)

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Here's some other photos for ref.

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Nick
 
Excellent photos. Thanks, Nick!

These are the best replicas I've seen, but they're not close enough for me.
 
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MFP 2020 said:
Excellent photos. Thanks, Nick!

These are the best replicas I've seen, but they're not close enough for me.
Click to expand...

That's me from DragonCon a few years ago. I wasn't really happy with the pants, either...they were custom-made, but the camo was painted on. And obviously the boots weren't entirely accurate.

I'll try to post pics this weekend if I get the chance, but I have more accurate boots now, probably made by the same Armenian bootmaker in LA that made magpie9's boots...BTW, just curious - were those boots the seller's only pair? I know of only a handful of people who had these boots made, and because of the cost and time, I wouldn't have thought any of us would have sold them off, unless we had more than one pair.

I also have a bolt of the uber-accurate camo that probably the A#1 Plissken expert painstakingly recreated a couple years ago, drawing the patterns by hand and then having them transferred to accurate fabric via dye sublimation. I've been saving that fabric until I'm confident that we can make the pants correctly and not waste the material.

I may be looking to sell my Magnoli EFNY jacket. I wore it once and found out that in my neck of the woods, it's a bit hot to costume with it. Again, I'll try to get some pics up this weekend.

Good luck on your 'quest', you'll have nearly all the post-Apocalyptic bases covered if you put together a Snake ensemble.
 
Jon8712 said:
That's me from DragonCon a few years ago. I wasn't really happy with the pants, either...they were custom-made, but the camo was painted on. And obviously the boots weren't entirely accurate.

I'll try to post pics this weekend if I get the chance, but I have more accurate boots now, probably made by the same Armenian bootmaker in LA that made magpie9's boots...BTW, just curious - were those boots the seller's only pair? I know of only a handful of people who had these boots made, and because of the cost and time, I wouldn't have thought any of us would have sold them off, unless we had more than one pair.

I also have a bolt of the uber-accurate camo that probably the A#1 Plissken expert painstakingly recreated a couple years ago, drawing the patterns by hand and then having them transferred to accurate fabric via dye sublimation. I've been saving that fabric until I'm confident that we can make the pants correctly and not waste the material.

I may be looking to sell my Magnoli EFNY jacket. I wore it once and found out that in my neck of the woods, it's a bit hot to costume with it. Again, I'll try to get some pics up this weekend.

Good luck on your 'quest', you'll have nearly all the post-Apocalypticbases covered if you put together a Snake ensemble.
Click to expand...
I got the boots from one of the A#1 Plissken experts and they are amazing and have never been worn. From what he told me they were an epic undertaking.
I'd love to see the camo fabric and would be very interested if you ever get round to having the pants made. I might also be interested in the jacket if you're selling it.
 
Hi guys! New member, and it's Plissken gear that has led me to sign up here at long last. I've often looked out for the right pair of pants for a Snake outfit, all the commercially available ones I've found just aren't right. For one thing, Snake's always looked like they had a light blue tint, most of the ones I find are just black white and grey. Am I right in thinking that it was Plissken's pants that in fact kick started the whole 'urban camo' thing?

What I'm really looking for ATM is his black vest with the zipper vents....can anyone point me in the right direction? Tried many word combinations on eBay and nothing's coming up....
 
Jon8712 said:
That's me from DragonCon a few years ago. I wasn't really happy with the pants, either...they were custom-made, but the camo was painted on. And obviously the boots weren't entirely accurate.
Click to expand...

But you look good, man!

Welcome to the madness, Rob. Pretty new myself.

I think some of the pictures themselves have the bluish tint; on my TV, the color looks closer to a neutral gray. I'll no doubt check this a few dozen more times.

In poring over the images, trying to find repeating patterns in the camo, I've noticed that Kurt seems to wear (at least) two different pairs. The camo pattern in the fly area (the suprapubic area, if you will) is consistent, but the left thigh pocket isn't. Also look at the left outseam. (No surprise, of course, that they would have multiple copies of the costume, and of course getting them exactly the same would have been a pain. And who would notice anyway, right?) ;)

Isn't there some photo app that can sample all the images, then recreate the pattern in its entirety? :)

Re: Boots: Are you guys talking about Andre No. 1?
 
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See before I saw this thread, I had vever even considered the camo pattern, and now I see that it is vastly different to the standard stuff in army surplus stores etc.

Weren't Plissken's pants made from lycra? Or was that his top?
 
magpie9 said:
I'd also love to get my hands on an accurate pair of pants. Also thought you might be interested in seeing this amazing pair of custom made boots I bought from a fellow board member. They are as close to screen accurate as I have ever seen and great quality.
Click to expand...

Wow, I can't believe that that particular member actually sold his boots! I am the other half of that transaction which as a real adventure and pain to complete. We had the two most accurate pairs of Snake's boots ever attempted, and I'm sorry that he sold them. But happy that someone with the passion to re-create the entire costume like my self own them now. Good home no doubt.
 
MFP 2020 said:
Because one project is never enough, I'm thinking about doing Snake Plissken's costume from Escape from New York. The jacket is easy (Magnoli); but his trousers will be fully custom. As far as I can tell it's a custom camo pattern. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.) I can't find a single discussion about this on the whole entire Internet. :eek

Any ideas on the best way to extrapolate the pattern from screen grabs? Any recommendations on where to have fabric printed? (Or would painting a pair of gray trousers be a better alternative?)

Thanks.
Click to expand...

The jacket was a pain to try to get Magnoli to re-create. Me and an old friend of mine commissioned that crook to make us our Plissken jackets. He never did get them exactly correct by the way. He then started mass producing them for profit, making it easy for anyone to have one.
 
I just looked at the price on those Magnoli 'Escape' jackets and nearly choked... $650 AND THEN add $350 to the price for antique cowhide?

Also, interesting fact about Motor Cowboy, the company offering the replica Plissken boots: you'll see on their website that they offer 'Airwolf' pilot boots and they claim they were "replicated from an original pair". As a long serving member of the Airwolf fan community, I can tell you the truth about their boots. A very talented Airwolf fan by the name of Steven W Stull was working towards offering reproduction Airwolf flightsuits and boots- he has already had great success with his working replica helmets. Anyway, he was using original costumes owned by members of the community, INCLUDING an original pair of the boots which were originally modified Neiman Marcus boots. Steve eventually gave up on the suits for personal reasons; Motor Cowboy were to produce the boots for him based on what he gave them, there was a disagreement and he parted company with them. IIRC they actually failed to return some stuff to him that they were supposed to, what I do know is that the boots they are offering are not 100% accurate and not all their own work.
 
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