Dune II is the big release of the year (so far). But big battle scenes to one side, it's a film that deserves a standing ovation for its dedication to clothes
Words: Zak Maoui
Based on Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, director Denis Villeneuve’s epic Dune is a big sci-fi tale about Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides, and the planetary struggle between make-believe houses. It's set in the future. It's a big dystopian flick about what might happen to us. It's pretty scary stuff. But all that aside, it's a fascinating film purely for the outfits on show.
Pictured on fictional planet Arrakis, the characters serve big time when it comes to their outfits. It's all down to the work of five-time Oscar Jacqueline West, the costume designer for The Revenant, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Killer of the Flower Moon, the latter for which she is nominated for an Oscar.
Villeneuve and West worked together to not just create a dystopian fantasy, but one that we can envisage ourselves living in. And that in part - comes down to the costuming. West uses fashion to create a richly layered world. Whereas the likes of Star Wars, Trek et al are pretty non-believable when it comes to their futuristic dress, Dune sits up there with other sci-fi films like The Matrix, which was thrust into the fashion showspace thanks to its replicable leather trench coats, slacks and razor shades. Normal people stuff with a futuristic edge. Dune is similar. The clothes, while still teetering a little into the costume void, are pretty desirable for us normal folk. Sure they're designed for a period of time roughly 20,000 years from now, but there is something a little relatable about them. They could've easily have come out of one of the Autumn/Winter 2024 catwalks, which in recent months have been dictating how we're going to dress in just eight months time.
In the first Dune Chalamet is seen in a high-collared blazer, a big overcoat and leather gloves that could've come straight off one of designer Mathieu Blazy's Bottega Veneta catwalks, or elsewhere Alexander McQueen (during the Sarah Burton era). It's an updated version of Keanu Reeves' look from The Matrix. Zendaya's Chani, who barely features in the first film, also leaves her mark. She is an ethereal queen in the desert, with windswept, wispy hair and windswept, wispy hems. And Rebecca Ferguson's a high priestess - forgive us, 'Bene Gesserits' - of ultra-chic proportions.
And Dune: Part Two is much the same, but on a grander - and likely with a greater budget - scale. As well as wanting the costumes to look real, Villenueve protested that they shouldn’t be classic sci-fi, as with those aforementioned films, Star Wars etc. And, as with the first Dune film, West depicted how we might dress when the world is about to end, and made it fully fashion, for her second outing. Chalamet levels up and his outfits are cloaked and majestic. Underneath by way of technical gear and utilitarian armour, there's an air of Rick Owens - the dark lord of sci-fi fashion - and a lot of Fahrenheit 451, the 2018 dystopian film whereby costumes were shield-like and heavy.
With the introduction of Florence Pugh in this film, the fashion stakes have been upped. Of course, she's a Valentino ambassador away from the big screen, but did we expect this level of style on it? No. But Pugh, via West, delivers. Her ensembles are paired back, but designed so meticulously that you'd be forgiven for thinking they were made by one of Paris' high couturiers.
Meanwhile newcomer Austin Butler, who plays bad guy Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, is decked out in haunting black leather and vinyl. It's vampy, gothic and again, akin to the sort of stuff you'd see on one of Rick Owens' catwalks. Her draped scarf-like hoods, which can be seen on Ferguson too, had a certain Alaïa-like air about them. Pugh's beadwork headpieces and chainmail hoods were inspired, in part, by McQueen. Elsewhere Léa Seydoux, who appears as Lady Fenring in the second Dune, wears a hooded gown inspired by an original Cristóbal Balençiaga design.
Dune: Part Two is not your typical sci-fi film. Sure all the theatrics, explosions and CGI magic touches are there, but there are layers to it. Through West's clothing there's more depth, that makes it more believable than your traditional sci-fi film. Costumes these are not. Instead, they're arguably a look at the future of fashion. Clothes so good, we sort of want to move to Arrakis.
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