Space Rags

Summer Glau in the (tragically) cancelled Firefly sci fi series by Joss Whedon. From gawker

Ever noticed that the farther out you go in space and time—Outer Space, and/or the far distant future—the more everyone is dressed like nomads or desert warriors or agrarian herders or medieval warriors.. .or Romans? Why this inversion of the time continuum? Because sci-fi is more about our historical struggles and ways than about our future. The more things change, the more they seem… very, very old. space rags.”Space rags” is my shorthand term for the sci-fi fashion phenomenon.

Middle-Earth-Meets-Ancient Greece-Meets-Outer-Space look includes one or more of the following:

• emphasis on handwoven and/or metallic textiles, hand-stitched clothing that’s handmade meets couture: hemp tunics, asymmetrical jackets in rough cotton (think Mongolian nomad)
• handmade/pre-20thC leather boots
• yokes reminiscent of breastplates
• utility straps and belts and weapons holsters
• space cowboy, space Western (the “browncoats” in Firefly, Serenity)

It is a fact that everyone looks good in back-to-the-land spacewear. It seems to come back into fashion at regular intervals. The 90s, and it’s due for a return.

Aeon Flux, with its many Jean-Paul Gaultier-style getups, is the quintessential Space Rags film.

Space Rags from local Vancouver designer Hajnalka Mandula (see also previous post):

It goes for props, too. from Star Trek: Brunali genetic resequencer. Wooden obviously, because what other material would you use for a genome resequencer:

More Star Trek lo-fi hi-tech:

Chani of the desert Fremen tribe, from Dune

And finally, the Space Disco variant—the famous minidress from Logan’s Run, oddly reminiscent of a short toga: