Fashion Postcards from the Moon (for Neil Armstrong)

Three years ago I wrote about the anniversary of the lunar landing and the impact it had on fashion.

Since then I explored further connections between fashion, space discoveries, Apollo missions and inspiring early sci-fi film costumes.

Yesterday Neil Armstrong - US astronaut, Apollo 11 commander and the first man to set foot on the moon on 20 July 1969 - died at 82, so a further tribute to space (and space age fashion...) is due.

Born in 1930, Armstrong was fascinated by aviation from a very young age. He served as a Navy pilot, completed his studies in aerospace engineering and, in the mid-'50s, became a civilian research pilot at the Lewis research centre of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (Naca; later on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or Nasa).

Armstrong worked as a test pilot on high-speed aircrafts and was then chosen by Nasa for its astronaut-training programme. He entered history with the Apollo 11 lunar module mission during which many pictures of the moon were taken together with samples of lunar soil and rocks.

Upon landing Armstrong pronounced a statement that became instantly famous:  "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Fashion designers found space missions very inspiring in the '60s as they opened up new futuristic possibilities regarding shapes, silhouettes and materials.

As a postcard to the late Armstrong I'm posting here some pictures showing three space age looks from the '60s: Irene Galitzine's jumpsuit in quilted vinyl matched with a squarish helmet; Fabiani's scarf-cum-plastic visor (that was supposed to act as a substitute for the classic veiled hat...) and a final futuristic look for any woman landing on the moon by Pierre Cardin.

Armstrong's family issued a statement saying he was "a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job", highlighting that they hoped he would be "an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves." Maybe that's the real lesson we shouldn't be forgetting about Armstrong: indeed, if all of us would remember it, that would truly be "one giant leap for mankind".

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