1997

Bruce Willis and other cast members posing for a photo in their Jean-Paul Gaultier costumes on the set of The Fifth Element (1997)

The Fifth Element (1997)

The Fifth Element (1997) dir. Luc Besson.

Milla Jovovich in The Fifth Element (1997)

British record producer, former member of Massive Attack and The Wild Bunch as well as being a Trip hop musician. Here's Tricky aka Tricky Kid and Tricky Rock (real name: Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws or just Adrian Thaws) in The Fifth Element, Ghost in the Shell and Tool's "Parabola" music video.

☆*:.。.      .。.:*☆

leeloo icons

“For a perfect world.”

The Fifth Element (1997)

Jean-Paul Gaultier’s costume design in The Fifth Element (1997)

One Dress a Day Challenge

August: Fantasy & Sci-Fi

The Fifth Element / Gary Oldman as Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg

Zorg's costume is a sort of futuristic take on the pinstriped suit, with an extra-long vest, jodhpurs for pants, and boots! His shirt is in a soft, shiny blue material with a high collar that makes me think of Eustace Tilley (the dandy who appeared on the first cover of The New Yorker--see below).

About the hair, though, with that little plastic cap? Yeah, your guess is as good as mine. There's a lot of weeeird fashion in the 23rd century, if this movie is to be believed. All those styles were dreamed up by Jean Paul Gaultier.

Milla Jovovich as Leeloo in ‘The Fifth Element’ (1997)

Round 1A

The Fifth Element: I'm sorry, you'll need a multi pass to access this round. The Fifth Element is a sci-fi action film by French director Luc Besson, starring Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman and Chris Tucker. In simplest terms, the Earth is staring down imminent destruction from a cosmic evil; in anticipation of such an event, humanity was gifted a weapon (the titular Fifth Element) in the form of a woman named Leeloo. The film owes much of its cult status to the bold, eclectic visuals of both the characters and world, aided by the legendary Jean "Moebius" Giraud and Jean-Claude Mézières on production design and Jean-Paul Gaultier on costume design. Jovovich's Leeloo, with her choppy tangerine-orange hair and iconic white-strapped bodysuit, is instantly recognizable across pop culture for the look alone; the same can be said for Tucker's Ruby Rhod, whose conical neo-pompadour needs no introduction. Though critics were divided-- it was awarded at the BAFTAs and the Cannes Film Festival, which premiered the film alongside a Jean-Paul Gaultier fashion show and ballet, while also being nominated for a Razzie-- it managed to take on a second life among fans. At the time of its release, it was the most expensive European film ever made, and it remained the highest-grossing French film at the international box office until 2011.

Radiohead's OK Computer: I go forwards, you go backwards, and somewhere we will meet. By the middle of the decade, Radiohead was weary of the ubiquity of their 1993 hit Creep; although the record that followed it (The Bends) was a lusher, more evolved album than their first, it had failed to produce a distinctive enough sound and image for the band to undo what Creep had done. The song threatened to define the band entirely to those outside their devoted following. In 1997 the band swung for the fences with the haunting, abstract OK Computer. It was a move their label cast immense doubt on at the time, and its success then and now would cement Thom Yorke and his bandmates as soothsayers of a sort, draped not in bohemian silk robes but in white hospital sheets. It's an album that speaks to the future with dread more than wonder, that critics described as "nervous almost to the point of neurosis," but marries the uneasy experimental soundscapes with poetic, surrealist, and increasingly prophetic songwriting regarding the parallel lives we lead with technology. Featuring the singles Karma Police, Paranoid Android and No Surprises, OK Computer is hailed by many as the band's masterpiece, and is often cited by music publications as one of the greatest albums of the decade: it's certified double Platinum in the US and five-times Platinum in the UK, and in 2014 it was included in the United States National Recording Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."