The Stillsuits of Dune
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 by tcg
The 1984 David Lynch film Dune gets a lot of play around here. While the plot may be overblown and some of the major parts of the book are kind of glossed over, you can’t argue that serious money wasn’t pumped into the costume budget. While almost every costume in the movie is a feast for the eyes, of particular importance are the stillsuits worn by the desert-centric Fremen. The suits in both the movie and the books are designed to recycle all the water produced by the human body, giving a normal person the ability to survive in the harsh, waterless environment of the planet Arrakis.
While it would seem to be an easy thing to reproduce, you’d be mistaken. Take into account the original design and construction problems encountered by costume designer Bob Ringwood. He wanted to make the stillsuit out of rubber, but was soon shown that rubber didn’t behave the way he wanted. The solution was to make the stillsuit out of foam, but still give it the appearance of rubber. Capping off the look for the film was the addition by David Lynch of something called a weirding module. It has a metal throatpiece with a red light on it, and a stylized gun, which focuses a person’s voice into a weapon. This was made exclusively for the movie, as such a thing does not appear in the books. Given the difficult nature of crafting such a thing yourself, you could either buy a prop replica (but be ready to hand over some serious money), or simply grit your teeth and try to fashion yourself. I suggest wood/plastic for both pieces. There will be some minor electronics to figure out, as both pieces have red lights on them.
Something that does appear in the books, however, is the crysknife. The knife is shaped from the tooth of one of the sandworms of Arrakis, giving it a very stylized look for a knife. It would not be hard to fashion one for yourself out of wood, or possible PCP piping, but it will take some patience. The length of the crysknife is approximately 11.5″ to 12″ long. While the weirding module you can take or leave, I would say that the crysknife is not negotiable. Take the time to add it to this costume, and you will thrill all the Dune geeks out there, trust me!
If you can find a wetsuit on the cheap, then you’re already starting in a decent direction to making your own stillsuit. You will also need some black craft foam. As you can see from some of the pictures that the stillsuit has a definite organic look to it, with the rolls taking on a muscular shape. Rolling your foam into even loops for the chest, and smaller ones over the stomach and back may help achieve the look you might be going for. Stitch the foam into rolls, but you will need a solid glue to attach the rolls to your wetsuit. As you will need more of the foam for the stylized look of the stillsuit’s boot and pants, make certain that you don’t throw any of the little bits out. You never know what might be of use later on. Luckily, the pants are of a simpler nature than the top, being made up of pads instead of rolls. That’s not to say that there aren’t SOME rolls on the pants (around the, ahem, codpiece), but unless you’re simply a stickler for detail, you can skip the rolls on the pants and still get the idea across. Black flexible tubing can be fashioned into the nosepiece, but as these were rarely worn in the movie, you can do without.
After you’ve affixed the rolls/pads, you can weather them as you see fit, though, a new stillsuit as presented in the film has a glossy look that may be difficult to accomplish on craft foam. After you paint your suit, make sure you let it dry thoroughly before you wear it about. If you don’t have a convention to wear your stillsuit to, wear it to the beach and play in the sand, or stare out at the ocean at all that lovely, expensive water. Just watch out for sandworms! Shai-hulud is not a forgiving creature!
Now that you have the knowledge to make your own stillstuit, get to it! And send pictures of the results here to ThatCostumeGirl. We will be most appreciative, thanks!
June 2nd, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Some of the best costumes i have ever seen Fancy Dress London
June 9th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
The version that got TV play includes a lot of scenes from the book that got cut from the theatrical release. From what I recall, Frank Herbert actually liked the 1984 version. I, for one, think it captures that High Gothic Sci-Fi feel of the book(s). Though the weirding modules are kinda out there. Man. Now I have to add a stillsuit to the list of costumes I wish I had.
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August 1st, 2011 at 12:36 pm
After giving it some thought, I’m sad to say that I don’t think the
Stillsuit would work in real life. The purpose of sweat is to evaporate
and cool you off. The Stillsuit keeps to sweat from evaporating and
collects and purifies it; which will not cool you off! You’d die of heat
stroke in very short order. It fact, I’d say that you stand a pretty
good chance of that it any version of the costume!
Without a bunch of Peltier thermocouples to cool the occupant, and
their power supplies (and insulation) to cool the wearer, I don’t think
the Stillsuit would work. Jaimes Beam
August 28th, 2011 at 11:50 am
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December 2nd, 2011 at 4:31 am
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December 25th, 2011 at 11:16 pm
I think any stillsuit NEED’s the hood and face mask per the description in the book. it is one of the few things I like about the miniseries suits