The Future Has ArrivedWhat did we think the future would look like? How has it really turned out? What's next for humanity and the universe? What have we done? Lists to keep you up at night, quaking in your moon boots.
Updated March 21, 2021 4.5k votes 693 voters 36.2k views
List Rules
Vote up the spaciest sci-fi fashion to come out of the '80s.
Some of the silliest, most over-the-top futuristic fashion came from '80s movies. From major hits like Star Wars and Aliens to lesser-known B-movies like Ice Pirates and Galaxina, the decade played host to a plethora of films that didn’t even try to get it right - and that’s what's so fun about it! Some of these sci-fi duds are so cool, you may want to try them out for yourselves. These sci-fi flicks took their artistic licenses and ran with them, often to some truly ridiculous places.
Where to begin? When Doc and Marty travel to 2015, they find a future with chest plates, pointy bangs, a single kneepad, and... is that hat made of balloons?
It's rare to see '80s retro futurism that is set so close to our modern time, and how very, very wrong it was.
In this post-apocalyptic, sci-fi action flick, all the planet’s water is tightly controlled by a military organization until a pack of teens save the planet using an alien orb.
Their armored shorts suits rock repurposed hockey pads emblazoned with symbols that look somewhat like Captain America's iconography and roller skates.
Mad Max 2 features over-the-top styles in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Warriors are outfitted with edgy leather undies and harnesses with silver spikes.
As for the steel hockey masks, think Silence of the Lambs cosplay sourced from Home Depot.
This post-apocalyptic B-movie has it all: switchblade-wielding female warrior-nuns called the Bod Sisters in black spandex get-ups, roller skates, and a whole lot of gratuitous toplessness. How else would you defeat evil puppet warlords?
Also look out for David the Gnome-style blue tunics and red pointy hats.
In this sci-fi adventure, rival families duke it out over a substance that allows prescience and lightspeed travel. Characters in the desert don moisture-preserving stillsuits, which resemble lean, fitted, full-body, puffy jackets. Nobles sport luxurious capes. And Sting wears a structured, winged blue Speedo.
In this time-traveling '80s classic, the rad dudes get a peek at the future to learn that their band Wyld Stallyns has saved the world.
The supreme beings who share the news rock big, robot-like sunglasses, and oversized, silver-lined shiny robes with cinched waists and massive shoulder pads - classic 2688 utopian-chic.