Judge Dredd Costume Designs By Gianni Versace
Pete Travis’ Dredd promised to be a darker, grittier, altogether more accurate interpretation of 2000AD’s comic book than Sylvester Stallone’s 1995 Judge Dredd attempt.
But if you were (or are) one of those people who spent their daily life feeling like the only person in the world with an appreciation for the first version of Judge Dredd, you’ve come to the right place. There are a handful of others out there, to be sure, but it can feel like a lonely way to go through life.
No one can make a compelling argument that Judge Dredd is a good movie, but the film does have its charms. The costumes, however, are not necessarily one of these.
The bulky, cartoonish outfits worn by the Judges of Mega City One are bright and gawdy, almost a caricature of the uniforms in the comics.
But they could have been worse. A handful of drawings of costume concepts by fashion legend Gianni Versace made the rounds online, and they’re not exactly going to prompt anyone to ask, “Why didn’t they use these designs?”
Similar to the costumes in the final version, these Judge Dredd designs are even more ridiculous. There are so many spangles, baubles, and dangly bits; it’s like Versace went crazy on a skintight body suit with a Bedazzler. Oh baby, do these ever miss the proverbial mark.
The best part of these drawings is that the Judge Dredds are drawn in stereotypical model guy poses. Try to imagine Stallone or Karl Urban striking these fierce poses.
Sometimes we can see fan (or fashion artist) art around a character and think to ourselves, “Man, I wish they had actually gone with that.” And other times, we breathe a collective sigh of relief that it didn’t happen. Hollywood can be a mixed bag that way. These Judge Dredd designs certainly reflect as much.
The Sylvester Stallone version of Judge Dredd ended up being a bit campier than we would have wanted, but these Versace designs would have been well beyond the pale. From that perspective, Sly looks downright terrifying.
It is probably a good reminder that though an artist might have talent in a particular area (say, high fashion), it doesn’t necessarily always trickle down to the fan stuff.
Who knows how close of a call this actually was? But we are sure glad it didn’t happen where Judge Dredd was concerned. It would have been hard to look some of those criminals in the eye and deliver actual justice.
