How Costumes Shape the Complex Politics of 'The Expanse' | Behind the Seams

Costume design in "The Expanse" echoes some of its sci-fi forebears ("Alien," "Blade Runner," etc.), but also does a great job differentiating factional cultures who live light years apart in a complex political world.
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Read Gavia's interview with costume designer Joanne Hansen: www.dailydot.com/parsec/expan...
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[@Vaultboy-ke2jj]

“How’d she look?” “Fine.” “No, I mean like what was she wearing?”

[@myrmidryad]

The Expanse deserves every praise for their costumes, I love how individualised they all are, and love that you pointed out how all the belters have super individual hairstyles that are also made suitable for low-gravity environments, that's always been one of my favourite details.

[@scottl.1568]

Agreed

[@ataaah]

In one scene where Avasrala had to shoulder a heavy responsibility, she picked up and put on a huge necklace. I realized it's her equivalent of psychological armor. Brilliantly handled!

[@Eli-um6gx]

I just recently found and watched the Expanse, so this was lovely to see! Amos showing off his arms was a point I'd missed consciously. That boy is proud of his body, it is true. Avasarala is, I think, both eye candy for her fashion, and a serious subversion of a lot of female character tropes. She's not sexified, she's older, she's married happily-ish, she doesn't have incredible fighting skills. She's just a person, really, who happens to inhabit the highest offices and rarified circles of a culture. One thing I kept repeating while watching the show (with delight, omg, the storytelling is just magnificent) is that there are no stupid people in space. Like, you can be good/bad/gray/whatever, but if you're unable to grasp some fairly complicated concepts and procedures about living in space, you're probably dead early on. Avasarala grasps those things very quickly when she does travel off the planet, and thus, proves she's more than a political mind.

[@chouryu13]

I'm on season 4 right now! The worldbuilding is really incredible. Rare for a franchise to have not only its own language but its own tattoo culture. And Bobbie Draper's suit is incredible!

[@wingnutlady]

This show has been on my to-watch list forever. Gonna have to finally watch it after this video!

[@jenniferh3587]

Welcome!

[@Kennia1998]

you are in for a ride

[@mattdeblassmusic]

Hooray, an Expanse episode! It's one of my favorite sci fi shows, and while the writing and acting are excellent, it's also a great example of how costume and prop design really help ground everything and make the world of the show much richer and more believable. And of course, Gavia's KZbin channel has really made me a lot more aware of how much costuming can play a role in storytelling

[@ROZWBRAZEL]

Gavin?

[@mattdeblassmusic]

@@ROZWBRAZEL Who's Gavin? Gavia Baker-Whitelaw is the narrator/writer of this channel.

[@ROZWBRAZEL]

@@mattdeblassmusic ah my wires got crossed there. Thanks

[@mattdeblassmusic]

@@ROZWBRAZEL It's easy to do! There's at least a few creators I follow whose names I'm sure I'm mispronouncing or getting wrong.

[@notthemusewere]

Aw. Nice work but I wish it was twenty times longer. One of the bits I was very amused by once I caught it is how when Holden is slipping back and forth between his more righteous asshole moments (mostly the first two seasons) and his more Quixote phase, he goes between a buttoned-up look, and getting out of the top half of his coveralls to reveal his "Pure & Clean" t-shirt. This is very much a theme in the show for individual characters; buttoning up when being militaristic and official, dressing down when they are being more vulnerable or approachable.

[@ailo4x4]

As a retired Navy chief, I can really appreciate all the nuances of the costuming in the series. The MRCN crews represent the gung-ho Marine style of collective strength and uniformity. The Belters, with their expressive yet space practical hairstyles as a form of personal expression, are very representative of prison culture (at least in the US). The normal ship crews in their coveralls/flight suits are spot on as that is what we lived in whenever possible. And Chrisjen Avasarala, wow, she makes 70 look damn sexy and strong. I can't imagine Angela Merkel or Hillary Clinton rocking that kind of couture, but I'm sure there is one coming.

[@lorcannagle]

One thing I noticed in my current rewatch is that business fashion on Earth and to a lesser degree Mars is a lot less formal than today - people frequently wear shirts with no tie and an open top button, T-shirts or fitted tops under jackets, and clothes made out of fleece or other materials associated with modern-day leisurewear than business/business casual outfits. And it's a very interesting way to tie the visual look and feel of the show to modern sensibilities. Babylon 5 did something similar by having formal clothes look mostly like modern ones, except they cut the collars off the shirts and didn't wear ties. A couple of the actors complained because they really liked the shirts and would have taken them home after shooting if not for the missing collars...

[@louisegrimhelm3041]

Adam Savage's Tested does an awesome series of videos from on the set when he did a cameo. The small details in the costumes are amazing

[@kaitlyn__L]

I loved this analysis so much, the weaving of class, culture, and sci-fi environmental considerations was masterful, especially for a tight ten minutes. I’ve seen many videos take so much longer to explain core concepts than you do here! The recognition of the hair and tattoos was also lovely, it’s a detail I find important as a lesbian (and many other LGBT fans of the show express similar sentiments).

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

dammit I'm going to have to rewatch now

[@aubigney]

my favourite character has to be marco, for the bisexual swag he exudes in everything from the way he sits to how he dresses. this show did a fantastic job with costuming

[@jd195527]

Could you consider covering the costumes in Counterpart? It's the excellent JK Trotter scifi show, with heavy Cold War metaphors but a fascinating costume style. Set in a version of modern day.

[@thomasciarlariello3228]

A cheongsam's double slit skirt could be modified into a bellows with a hem attached to ankles to swim in micro to zero gravity and be able to walk freely when acceleration of gravity returns. A Korean hoopskirted farthingale called "Hanbok" with crinoline Pannier bustles called "Daeshin Chima" could have hemlines attached to ankles for a steam filled gasbag to walk around during high accelerations exceeding 9.8 meters- ^2 or 32 feet-^2 of normal gravity or even if the adapted to low gravity as in "Cosmic Casanova" by Arthur C. Clarke. "Cholitas" refer to hoopskirted farthingales of Bolivia since Koreans and Bolivians have a genetic heritage from Elizabethan sailors since even "Dressing a Galaxy " by Trisha Bigger has noticed it also. Korean and Japanese brides have towering coiffures held in place via combs and pins, while Mongolian brides wear braid sheaths. "Chinese Costume in Transition" by Adolf Scott describes how ladies of Manchurian Shenyang wear metallic frameworks in their towering coiffures similar to Plastic "Bump Its' and Korean ladies would wear wooden frameworks in their towering coiffures. Aerospace factories of Manchuria from 1938 to 1945 used lower a composite braider winder from a ceiling on to metallic framework of bent pipe fuselage hulls to produce "MT-1" airliner or even today in Wonsan North Korea where rocket fuselage hulls are braided from carbon fibers to consider a periodical called " High Performance Composites": A Lady's earrings along with other jewelry could contain tools to dangle into recessed mazed conuduits of machinery to do repairs for micro to zero gravity. Press on nails could contain tools for micro to zero gravity. "Smithsonian" periodical claimed Kempeitei hid cameras in Garter belts. So therefore, a space opera could have a Rapunzel similar to Edith Nesbit's "Melisande" where a lady braids her hair into a spacecraft hull to later unbraid into a towering coiffure given a star system comprised of asteroid comets orbiting a neutron star without a stellar wind. There is a Patent for a mascara brush of for use by Asians so a fiction story could use to apply avionic gage and scopes or of for filter lenses. Clogs worn in East Asia could go beyond just magnetized boots of "Expanse". Please do not censor

[@scottl.1568]

Thanks for this

[@Kennia1998]

love the expanse

[@RGCLAYTV]

Well done :)

[@danhiebert0001]

Started binging your videos you should really get back to making more

[@danhiebert0001]

.... Please xD

[@thomasciarlariello3228]

You censored my comments entries.

[@ROZWBRAZEL]

assuming youtube's algorithms didn't get to whatever you said that was so important first