The 20 Campiest Fashion Movies of All Time

Janelle Okwodu
Updated

The 20 Campiest Fashion Movies of All Time

Tank Girl, 1995 Costume Designer: Arianne Phillips The post-apocalyptic environmental warrior plot of Tank Girl has become increasingly plausible in the decades since the film’s release (in 2019, a world without clean water isn’t far-fetched). And yet, its costumes remain out of this world. Rachel Talalay’s adaptation of Jamie Hewlett’s absurdist comic is filled with mutant kangaroos, survivalists, and hundreds of steampunk outfits complete with cone bras and goggles.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, 1975 Costume Designer: Sue Blane As the ultimate midnight movie, The Rocky Horror Picture Show’s costumes have done more than delight onscreen. With legions of fans still creating their own versions of Dr. Frank N. Furter’s corset or Columbia’s gold top hat, the film has inspired generations to embrace their inner campiness.
The Gang’s All Here, 1943 Costume Designer: Yvonne Wood By the 1940s Carmen Miranda had already made her mark on pop culture through her performances in Brazilian chanchadas, aka carnival films, and becoming the hottest ticket on Broadway—but Busby Berkeley’s The Gang’s All Here pushed her into the mainstream. As club singer Dorita, Miranda introduced America to elements that would become signatures within her act, including that famous Tutti Frutti hat.
To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar, 1995 Costume Designer: Marlene Stewart Though parts of its plot were cribbed from The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert—drag queens suffer car trouble the middle of a small town—To Wong Foo puts a fresh twist on the familiar story. Each queen has her own aesthetic: Vida Boheme is a Southern belle, Ch-Chi is a Latinx “drag princess,” and Noxeema is a no-nonsense diva with a wardrobe to die for. Even the rural backdrop doesn’t stop the group from dressing to the nines.
Mommie Dearest, 1981 Costume Designer: Irene Sharaff Camp doesn’t have to be intentional. In retelling Christina Crawford’s biography about abuse at the hands of her mother, Golden Age actress Joan Crawford, Mommie Dearest could have struck a tone of poignant seriousness. It didn’t. Everything from star Faye Dunaway’s painted-on eyebrows to the massive shoulder pads she sports throughout the film is exaggerated.
Pink Flamingos, 1972 Costume Designer: Van Smith You could create an entire list of camp costumes from John Waters films, but Pink Flamingos remains the director’s most outrageous offering, sartorially and in every other sense. If the sight of a gun-wielding Divine in her red fishtail proves too much, brace yourself for how her character, Babs Johnson, earned her “Filthiest Person Alive” title.
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, 1994 Costume Designer: Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner The original drag-queens-on-the-road movie is filled with campy outfits and heartfelt moments, but nothing beats the trio climbing to the top of Australia’s King’s Canyon dressed as drag showgirls, complete with feather headdresses.
Auntie Mame, 1958 Costume Designer: Orry-Kelly Auntie Mame’s mantra is simple: “Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!” Rosalind Russell’s lead character is out to experience everything the world has to offer, even if society isn’t ready for a female bon vivant. With her orphaned nephew serving as her ward, Mame travels the world in style, taking on each adventure in sumptuous Orry-Kelly–designed frock coats and furs.
Barbarella, 1968 Costume Designers: Jacques Fonteray Intergalactic babe Barbarella may have been from the 41st century, but Roger Vadim’s heroine wore the best of 1960s fashion. Though the space-age costumes are often erroneously credited to Paco Rabanne, who receives a special shoutout in the credits for inspiring the metallic catsuit worn by Jane Fonda in the final battle, the film’s costume design was actually the work of Jacques Fonteray. In black-and-silver thigh-high boots, half capes, and leotards with plastic panels, Fonda’s character embodied mod style at its most daring.
Blacula, 1972 Costume Designers: Ermon Sessions and Sandra Stewart What happens when you mix blaxploitation and horror? You get some of the funkiest costumes to grace the screen. More than your average undead antihero, Prince Mamuwalde manages to look smooth in a black silk cape and ruffled cravat while his lady love, Luva, wears the best in ‘70s-style Afrocentric fashions.
Batman, the Movie, 1966 Costume Designer: Pat Barto Long before the molded plastic and seriousness of the modern incarnation, the caped crusader did all his fighting in spandex. In the ‘60s, Adam West’s Batman film relied heavily on a gray knit suit and the punchy wardrobes of its many villains. You weren’t a real threat to Gotham if you didn’t have a splashy getup. Decades later and audiences still recognize the Joker’s clown makeup, Riddler’s acid green question marks, and Catwoman’s glittering catsuit.
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, 1965 Costume Designer: Michael Finn Do you need a designer when you have Tura Satana? Russ Meyer’s shoestring budgets didn’t allow for much in the way of costumes, but his Amazonian leading ladies wore their jeans and T-shirts like armor. Their badass wardrobes would go on to inspire Gucci’s Alessandro Michele, who would turn the film’s poster into a sweater during his Fall 2018 collection, and photography duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, who turned the movie’s scenes of women beating up men into an editorial for Vogue Paris.
I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, 1988 Costume Designer: Ruth E. Carter A send-up of the blaxploitation genre that plays every cliché for laughs, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka features an array of costumes by Oscar winner Ruth E. Carter. While it’s hard to choose a standout between the layers of gold chains that cause one character to overdose on bling and the colorful pinstripes worn by Kadeem Hardison and Damon Wayans, the zany yellow pimp suit of Fly Guy, complete with platforms with live goldfish in the heels, is a hard get-up to beat.
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, 1997 Costume Designer: Mona May As characters who live and breathe fashion, Romy White and Michele Weinberger read every issue of Vogue, exercise in heels, and fill their lives with color and whimsy. On the heels of her epic costumes in 1995’s Clueless, Mona May had fun transforming Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino into the ultimate style devotees. The way they dress even facilitates the film’s final twist when, after conquering the whole high-school-reunion thing, Romy and Michele channel their idiosyncratic outfits into a boutique of their own.
Showgirls, 1995 Costume Designer: Ellen Mirojnick Though the plot revolves around the removal of clothing, Showgirls manages to fill every scene with gloriously over-the-top costumes. From the unbridled glamour of Crystal Connors’s marabou robes to Nomi Malone’s habit of wearing cutoffs with lace pushup bras, every outfit is ridiculous, trashy, and fun. What else would you expect from the film that gave us “Versayce”?
Staying Alive, 1983 Costume Designer: Tom Bronson The Sylvester Stallone–directed sequel to Saturday Night Fever defies logic on several points. Instead of hitting up the discos, John Travolta’s Tony Manero now seeks Broadway success starring in Satan’s Alley, a play that can only be described as a modern dance version of Dante’s Inferno. If that weren’t ridiculous enough, it all concludes with a loincloth-clad Travolta dancing through strobe lights while everyone else wears a combination of 1980s workout spandex and BDSM gear.
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, 1962 Costume Designer: Norma Koch The ultimate diva showdown, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? pits Bette Davis against Joan Crawford for a scenery-chewing battle to the death. When it comes to costumes, nothing can top Davis in her powdered fright wig and smeared lipstick—a look she conceived herself to highlight Jane’s descent into madness.
Xanadu, 1980 Costume Designer: Bobbie Mannix Roller-skate musical about the nine muses of Olympus? Sure. Why not! With multiple worlds, scenarios, and musical numbers, this film sees Olivia Newton-John in everything from fringed-out cowgirl cosplay to Andrews Sisters–style boogie-woogie garb. The best of the bunch is, of course, the pink ruffled roller-girl outfit she wears to transfix artist `Sonny Malone.
Mahogany, 1975 Costume Designer: Diana Ross If playing the lead role and singing the main theme weren’t enough, Diana Ross gave herself a whole new challenge when working on Mahogany. As the film’s costume designer, Ross was behind every outlandish look worn by her aspiring fashion designer turned top model character, Tracey Chambers. Chided by her teachers in design school for her love of sequins and feathers, Chambers cuts loose the moment she gains notoriety: watch out for the bell-sleeved chinoiserie look she sneaks onto the runway during a pivotal scene.
What a Way to Go!, 1964 Costume Designer: Edith Head Shirley MacLaine’s well-dressed widow, Louisa May Foster, has more outfit changes than husbands in this 1964 film, which shows her in a gleeful wardrobe of Edith Head–designed gowns that aid in her many seductions. An under-the-radar gem, this dark comedy has all the right ingredients for campy fun.

Countless movies blur the lines between good taste and bad, but only a few do it in style. Camp fashion has been an essential part of cinema since its very origins. Whether it was Carmen Miranda’s Tutti Frutti Hat or Auntie Mame’s layers of marabou, larger than life clothes were a part of what made classic movies exciting. Sure, Grace Kelly’s gowns or Audrey Hepburn’s pearls may inspire viewers to elegance, but can all that classicism compete with John Travolta in a loin cloth?!

Camp costumes invite the audience to join in on the fun and appreciate art on a different level. There’s a reason cosplayers still dress up as Dr. Frank. N. Furter more than 40 years after The Rocky Horror Picture Show debuted; the outfits are as iconic as the songs and just as crucial to the experience. A look back at great moments in campy costume history shows what happens when the absurdity of a script translates into clothes that are wild, weird, and completely unforgettable.

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