Science fiction on TV has matured a lot recently. As a result of this maturation, viewers get a more realistic viewing experience. Gone are the days of foil suits, pointed shoulders, and high collars. No longer will you a see spacesuits that seem like someone’s mom made them from a jumpsuit and a fishbowl. Today, detail and realism are paramount, much of these changes are because today’s viewers demand better.
One of the best examples of just how far costuming for scifi has come is in Netflix’s new Lost In Space. Every outfit worn was thoughtfully designed and crafted to be both realistic and practical. The highlight of these efforts has to be the spacesuits, as seen in the image above. These suits seem to have everything short of an independent oxygen supply.
To get just a small idea of how much time, effort, and money was spent on costumes here’s a “fun facts” sheet from Netflix. After reading these bullet-points you’ll come away with a whole new appreciation for what the Robinsons are wearing.
Lost in Space Season 1
Costume Departement Fun Facts
- The spacesuits for Lost in Space were built at FBFX Studios in London, which is the same company that built the spacesuit for the 2015 feature film, The Martian.
- The spacesuits have 9 different fabrics and feature sublimation printing on neoprene, as well as lycra, leather, nylon and metal components.
- The spacesuit gloves were custom made by a glove maker in the UK at a cost of 950 GBP per pair.
- John Robinson’s expedition jacket (worn by Toby Stephens) was made out of 59 pattern pieces – more than any other garment used in the series.
- Some of the fabrics used in the building of the costumes were flown in from as far away as Japan, Germany, and the UK.
- The spacesuits took 2 months to design and much longer to build!
- Academy Award-winning Costume Designer Angus Strathie illustrates his own designs and deals directly with his costume cutters as to the line of each garment, built specifically under his direction.
- When the spacesuit helmets are placed on the actors’ heads, no sound can penetrate the visor and the helmet. In order for the director, crew and cast to communicate, the sound department rigged up a headset that inserts into the hood worn under the helmet (called a “Snoopy Hood”).
- There is a functioning fan in the backpack of the spacesuit that circulates air through the visor area to stop the visor from fogging up.
- The spacesuits can get very warm, especially under the lights on set. The under layers to the spacesuits are called “Cool Suits” and are made with underwear fabric and tubing that allows the actors to plug into a circulating pump, running cool water through the suits.
- The Cool Suits are applied to both a set of long johns and a top layer. The top of the suits were made in-house in Vancouver, then sent to a company in the US to have the tubing applied before being sent back to Vancouver for shooting.
Many thanks to Netflix for supplying this bullet-point list of facts. After reading this, we appreciate the Costume Department even more.
More Lost In Space resources:
Check out a video that goes behind the scenes with Lost In Space Featurette: The Robinsons Stick Together
For the original full trailer, check out New Lost in Space Trailer Expands the Universe
If you’d like to see the short date announcement trailer and a gallery of photos from the series, check out our post Get Lost In Space With This Trailer & Photo Gallery
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