Deconstructing Dystopian Dressing

In high school, I got a mockingjay tattooed on my ankle, a permanent reminder of the book and film franchise The Hunger Games. A fact I usually keep to myself, however, like any piece of great dystopian fiction, the series offered me an escape from the trials of teenagedom and technology. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes recently hit theaters and takes place during the 10th annual Hunger Games. Donald Sutherland’s character “President Snow” is 18-years-old and played by a bleached blonde Tom Blyth. Dystopian work at large asks a creative (and existential) conundrum: what does the future look like? The genre bends the past with the present to support imaginative ideas for the future. Dystopian fashion, in particular, has developed its own rulebook, combining aspects of uniformity, history, and originality to create brave new worlds.

Uniforms can be both equalizing and restrictive. In The Hunger Games prequel, the Capital City school uniform pops in “academy rouge.” Worn with a pale teal mandarin collared shirt, a color combo that brings to mind Raf Simons designs at Calvin Klein. Scholastic sophistication mixes seamlessly with tailored androgyny - a pleated sideless skirt placed over a pair of slacks. Formality is a dystopian bullet point and feuds with our current climate of sweatpants and athleisure. Balenciaga is selling a wrapped towel skirt for $925. Meanwhile, we have Ethan Hawke’s “Vincent Freeman'' and his peers in the not-so-distant future exclusively in dark suits and ties. An everyday possibility shown in the 1997 film Gattaca. The clean cut simplicity offers a palette cleanser of neutrality.