Ridley Scott’s Prometheus Out, But Blade Runner Still In (At Least In Fashion…) |

Ridley Scott may have moved onto a new sci-fi dimension with Prometheus, but, bizarrelly enough, the world of fashion seems to still have a never-ending love story with Blade Runner. There is indeed in some current collections a strange fascination once again with the shape of the shoulder area (though other designers/brands are instead still into Zhora's look…). As seen in previous posts on this site, there has actually always been in sci-fi a certain obsession with exaggerated shoulders.

Charles Knode and Michael Kaplan’s costumes for Blade Runner and in particular Rachael’s sculptural power suit with its strong padded shoulders and straight line came back to my mind this week while I was wandering around the streets of sunny Rome after visiting a historical shoe workshop (more about it later) and saw in Krizia's window shop two white shirts with emphasis on the shoulders.

Fashion connoisseurs may remember that sculptural shoulders were a typical detail Mariuccia Mandelli aka Krizia often included in her designs (check out the last picture in this post – a jacket from Krizia's Spring/Summer 1984) and, since this detail used to be a winner with consumers, it's only natural that they decided to redo it again.

Apart from being architectural, this silhouette was meant to be powerfully seductive, this is also why Illustrator and comic strip artist Guido Crepax often dressed one of his most popular characters, Valentina and the other heroines appearing in his stories (there is currently an exhibition on in Rome about her – again more about it later on) in Krizia.

Will Scott's Prometheus manage to influence fashion as much as Blade Runner did? Time will tell, but, in the meantime, fans of Rachael please bring out of your wardrobes your retro futuristic suits à la Mildred Pierce – you're definitely still in.