Karen as Auntie Entity
Karen as Auntie Entity
Karen:
"We bought a DVD and took still pics from the film to help make the costume. We used a combination of two different sizes of rings to make the chain mail. The larger rings are what the body armor is comprised of. The chaps, or stockings, are a size smaller. I didn't use steel rings; it would have been even more costly. I used aluminum rings. Even so the total cost was about $500.00. We used brass rods to build the support system for the shoulder frame, with a steel mesh under it to support the chain mail itself. I started to work on it last January so it took me approximately 10 months, and that included time to learn how to weave the chain mail. Mine is a weave called 'European 4 in 1'. I had a pretty good time making it; I expect to use it for a long time. I have a few more refinements to do on it. One of my friends lent me the staff; we are working on a small hand bow also. The gloves are fishing gloves - I didn't have the time or really the energy to make them too. The jewelry is some bangles I bought at different stores. The head piece is made of a brass rod that encircles the head and has two large springs on each side." More pictures here.
The Word Warrior as one of Aunt Entity's guards.
The Word Warrior:
"The mohawk is made out of wigs, rabbit skin, leather straps. The mask is made from a paintball mask, lens replaced with panty-hose-covered bubble goggles. I'm wearing Rawlings FB-20 football pads, the same as Wez's. They are accented with two marker lights, reflectors, a wig and a rubber mat. The belt is made of 3 leather pieces riveted together, accented with a Harley-Davidson Classic Horn Cover, wig-hair, and small leather strips and tiny replica reflectors. I'm wearing baseball shinguards on my arm and legs, and padded football trousers under black tights. The shield is a hubcap with a belt riveted to it, and the weapon is made of steel pipe, a wooden sledge hammer head accented with upholstery nails and a rubber knife blade." (See below for more info on guard costumes.)
Eric as Max
This section is designed to give you information about the original costumes, as well as useful information on building your own costume. Anyone with new insights, theories or information is invited to e-mail me.
Costume Design by Norma Moriceau. Some great resources for costume pictures are Rolling Stone magazine 8/85, and the Mad Max beyond Thunderdome souvenir magazine.
Max wears the same exact jacket and pants as he did in Mad Max 2. Max's jacket has heavy black stitching on his shoulder (bearclaw mohawker damage), his shoulder seam, his elbow, and a few stitches where his sleeve zipper used to be. The jacket's zipper is missing a few teeth as well. Max wears his MFP boot on his right foot, which has had some tyre tread added to the soles, and a cowboy boot on his left foot. Max has some sort of laced-up bandage on his knee. Max wears a black, thin, long-sleeved tunic under his jacket. He wears two belts. One of them has ammunition shoulder straps attached to it, and is a British style belt. This belt's brass buckle reads, "Astore Police". My only lead on this is that it could be a British police buckle from Astore, Pakistan (formerly British-ruled India). Max's turban is made of black cotton Indian cheese-cloth. Max's whistle is known as a naval bosun whistle.
See Also Boots | Badge & Gun | Pads | Jackets
From Rolling Stone Magazine, August 1985:
"The dress Moriceau concocted for Entity is an expressionist classic: a seventy-pound soldered amalgam of dog muzzles, coat hangers and chicken wire, the whole overlaid with gleaming chain-mail butcher aprons and accessorized with pendulant auto-spring earrings. The accompanying wig, styled to echo the movie's male plumage, required Tina to shave her head for proper fitting. She offered no protest."
Most of the male guards have double-strap football shoulder pads, Rawlings brand. They have a rubber mat on the front, riveted through the lace holes. The pads have black hair on their right shoulder. On top of the pads, you can find a variety of different leather designs and car parts, ranging from tail-lights to rear-view mirrors to marker lamps. There is one marker lamp in particular that is used very often on the costumes, which is only available in Australia. This is the tear-drop shaped light on my left shoulder (see above). The ones I bought are Narva brand marker lamps, part no. 86360. They are a common sight in Australia. The acorn-shaped light on my right shoulder is a Chrome Marker Light, 80069, which I ordered from Big Jim's.
The mohawks range in colour, and stand about 30 cm/ 12 in. high. The hair runs longer in the rear. To keep the hair up, I would strongly recommend some kind of inner reinforcement. The mohawk has black straps, about 3/8 in. wide, with a plastic chinpiece attached. Two straps come down from the top, with loops in the ends. One strap comes around the neck and the chin, through the loops of the other straps, and has a buckle on it that you undo to put the mohawk on or to adjust it. For the hair, I used 3 wigs of different colour, and cut them up into patches and strips, which I super-glued to a rabbit skin base.
The guards sometimes wear sun-goggles made of motocross goggles with faceshield. The lens is replaced with clear "bubble goggles", which are covered in pantyhose. I found that motocross goggles and faceshields came in few styles, and were too expensive, so I worked with paintball goggles and mask instead.
The guards wear leather motorcycle belts accessorized with various car emblems, including a Buick emblem and a vintage Harley-Davidson horn cover (accented with red paint). I bought a "Classic Horn" from a Harley-Davidson dealership. It's a reproduction of their old horns from the 30's and 40's. It's easier to find than the real thing, but still too expensive. The belts measure about 7 in. on the front and back, taper on the side bottom edge (very important when wearing with padded football pants), and are held together by 4 buckles on the rear. Long hair is added to the front and rear of the belt.
The guards wear baseball shinguards on their arms and legs. The shinguards on their legs are accented on the tops with hair. I like to think that all of the hair found on the guards' costumes comes from the people they have killed and scalped. The guards wear padded football pants under black football tights. The costumes are accented throughout with strips of leather, and tiny red automobile reflectors.
