Help me dress like I'm from the future

January 14, 2013 1:35 PM

I need an awesome costume idea for a future-themed party. Things that are important: cost (cheap) and ease of construction.

I'm open to all kinds of visions of the future, and funny/punny costumes work GREAT. Thank you, ask.me -- you made my apocalypse costume a big hit, and I'm looking forward to suggestions for a future-themed costume!

posted by superlibby to clothing, beauty, & fashion (17 answers total)

If you work in an office setting, you could show up in an ultra-corporate business suit and say that you're from the very, very near future -- as in, "a day from now, when I'm at work".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:39 PM on January 14

Dress like an elderly version of yourself--black socks and sandals, high-waisted pants, etc.
posted by MrMoonPie at 1:39 PM on January 14 [5 favorites]

You could go as Amy from Futurama. The outfit is cute, comfy, easy to source and you can add a blaster to it. Also, the world's smallest cell phone!

Or Leela, you can get ski boots, and a blaster. The one-eye thing is a bit harder to master.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:39 PM on January 14

Why not just go as a Time Lord? Checkered suit coat, elbow patches and bam.

Oh, and a screwdriver.
posted by mibo at 1:56 PM on January 14 [1 favorite]

Use cardboard to make a phone-booth costume and talk like Bill & Ted (No Waaay!)
posted by mannequito at 2:12 PM on January 14

If you do decide to dress up as Leela, this may help.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:14 PM on January 14 [1 favorite]

pantyhose over face and hands..."I'm a clone. I'm not done yet." for extra neutral-ness stop by home depot/your local hardware store for a white disposable painters jumpsuit (bring a straw...it will help, but you don't need to cut a hole; you can drink through (clean) pantyhose)
posted by sexyrobot at 2:33 PM on January 14 [1 favorite]

If your view of the future is rather pessimistic, dress in a self-cooling white reflective jumpsuit with water vapor reclamation system, or else rags stolen from the bodies of the dead.

If you have a more positive, i.e. "Star Trek: The Next Generation" view of the future, wear an interestingly-textured unitard or perhaps a bold geometric blouse belonging to your mother in the early '90s. (Bonus if you're a dude.)
posted by daisystomper at 2:39 PM on January 14 [1 favorite]

Nothing says 31st-century space disco like a sequined mini-dress!
posted by Snarl Furillo at 2:44 PM on January 14

Dialogue from "Looper," where a guy from the future offers fashion tips:

"Do something new, huh? Put a glowing thing around your neck, or use rubberized...just be new."
posted by steinsaltz at 3:41 PM on January 14

One word. Tyvek.
posted by chrchr at 4:02 PM on January 14

SPACE LEGGINGS!
posted by sonmi at 4:06 PM on January 14

What about 90s / club kids? Everything old becomes new again eventually right? [tumblr links; may not be SFW]
posted by lilnublet at 4:44 PM on January 14

Future robot.
posted by hooray at 5:15 PM on January 14

I was at a party recently where a couple successfully dressed as "the future" by augmenting one cheap silvery costume in to two sexy, slightly skimpy costumes with a lot of silver body paint with David Bowie extreme future eye makeup.
posted by ldthomps at 5:20 PM on January 14

You could cheat and do something vaguely Western-ish, and claim to be an extra from Firefly.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:58 PM on January 14

I think it might be hard to pull off and a bit subtle but it would be totally awesome to be a mishmash of slightly different era's in term of clothing and phrasing. Something like hipster glasses, but with bellbottoms and a poison shirt wearing a flat cap. Also throw in phrases like groovy, ya dig, radical, before it was cool, etc.

Essentially you are trying to look like a time traveller that is trying to fit in with the culture, but is so distant from the culture that they don't do it quite right. They've studied the timeline and have all of the trends, but they are all a mishmash of the 50's -00's in the same way that you wouldn't consider anything radically different from 1800-1850 except they're from 2250 and everything from that era has merged into one overall culture.
posted by koolkat at 8:51 AM on January 15