Did you watch Fantastic Four: First Steps this Summer? Costume designer Alexandra Byrne did an incredible job bringing Matt Shakman’s vision for a 1960s New York in a parallel universe to life! A superhero movie with vintage clothing? Now, you've got our attention!
The first challenge was to create the perfect suits to match people's expectations of what they except the Fantastic Four to wear based on the comic books, but also bringing something new to the table. The comic book debuted in 1961 and this marks the fourth time a stand alone live action Fantastic Four film has been officially released (there was a film made in the early 90s that never saw the light of day).
For this iteration, Byrne made the top element of the famous blue suits out of ribbed knit fabric. The design was inspired by 60s skiwear which had a lot of stretch built in. She worked with technical knitter Liria Pristine to bring the idea to life. Pristine worked with Italian mills to create the perfect fabrics, and 90 suits in total were created. Byrne described the finished result as “a balance of retro engineering and shiny new aspirations.”
Joseph Quinn’s Johnny Storm was dressed with a nod to 50s Greaser culture in white tees and high rise jeans. His red Harington jacket instantly calls to mind James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.
“You don’t want to be too on the nose with those things,” says Byrne. “But the film is set in such a strong visual world that you are able to pull in beats like that.”
The wardrobe of Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards, on the other hand, is borrowing from the likes of Cary Grant and Gregory Peck. Byrne softened his tailoring with the addition of knitwear. She also Included check patterns to reference the grids of graph paper, calling back to science. Reed’s ties all have specific patterns and were custom made.
Even though the character of The Thing (Ben Grimm) was Computer Generated, the clothes still had to be made (in large scale) so that the VFX department had something to work with. British clothiers Taillour created custom pieces for The Thing using a 3D model of the character. He has the best menswear in the movie!
And not to forget the beautiful Sue Storm in her Mod turtlenecks and headbands!
The background actors including the children all looked wonderful in a muted Autumnal colour palette:
The film is set in a 1960s inspired retro-futuristic world and as such, the costume team were able to acquire some 1960s clothing from us back in late 2023. Pictured below are some of the pieces they purchased from us for the movie, although we cannot confirm if they made it into the final cut. I believe that most of these would be intended for BG.
Productions have the option of renting from our collection or purchasing from our store, which makes our costume house unique!
Womenswear:
Menswear:
Thanks to costume designer Alexandra Byrne and her team for working with us!
Assistant Costume Designers:
Charlotte Wiseman
Joanne Lees
India Ayles
Emma Burnand
Costume Coordinator:
Kate Chadderton