And by “aesthetic” I mean “what you need to wear to survive in a brutal post-apocalyptic wasteland”.
1. MATERIAL
Contemporary retailers are full of lightweight knits and wafting synthetics. Be assured that these materials would not still be around 45 years after the end of civilization–they would fall apart under heavy wear.
The Vuvalini favor thicker, durable fabric, such as military-weight canvas for their topmost, protective layers. In some cases their sleeves appear to be sweatshirt-style jersey.
If you’re cosplaying, it will take a lot of wear and/or distressing to get new fabric to drape this way. One alternative is linen, which is suitably durable, but much less densely woven than most of the fabric onscreen. It will hang nicely right off the rack, and keep you cool. Plus it’s regaining enough popularity in more interesting cuts than the traditional tropical suit that you might even be able to find something Vuvalini-ready in a discount store.
Jeans will work for Vuvalini pants, provided they are adequately distressed. Unnamed Vuvalini #4 wears cargo pants.
Given that there have probably been no large animals in the Wasteland for some decades, they use very little leather. The pieces we do see are ragged edge cuts, like on the Valkyrie.
One of the cleaner exceptions is Unnamed Vuvalini #4′s cowl:
The top portion resembles an aviator cap, but it bells out and might even be attached to the part that covers her shoulders.
There’s also Keeper’s suede vest:
By the same token there is very little wool, which is a shame because it regulates body temperature and keeps you quite cool once you sweat through it. It’s also easy to repair… provided you have more wool. I’ve only spotted it on Unnamed Vuvalini #2:
And the vest they gave Cheedo.
2. LAYERS
Layers, layers, layers!
The least clothed we ever see one of the Vuvalini is Valkyrie at the tower; otherwise they’re positively bundled. They are all about coverage and protection, which adds up to probably at least three layers on each of them. A few of them do wear clearly detachable sleeves.
3. ZIPPERS = NO. BUCKLES = YES!
Sand and zippers don’t mix. I haven’t spotted a single visible zipper on the Vuvalini. Instead, there are loads of buckles.
So if nothing else, wear multiple belts over your top layer. Which brings us to…
4. ACCESSORIES
Nearly everything the Vuvalini wear is in drab earthtones, but they squeeze in swatches of bright color and patterns in their accessories, like the woven pieces at UV4′s hips, Maadi’s headband, and UV3′s and Keeper’s scarves. And of course, the bikes–so much brocade! If you have a scrap of cloth that makes it look like your first priority after the fall of civilization was looting an antique store, find a way to attach it to you. Then go roll in the dirt.
Almost nothing the Vuvalini wear seems to be purely decorative; even UV4′s necklace looks like it might double as a flask. And of course any pieces would be handmade of readily available materials, or possibly passed down from one generation to the next. When in doubt, if your item would be significant to your character, wear it.
Get ye some goggles! I daresay no Mad Max cosplay is complete without a pair. They’re not limited to the Vuvalini either:
If you can’t find any you like for cheap, look for spice tins with glass lids (check World Market if you have one near you). Punch a hole in the side of each lid, wire them together, and wrap the whole shebang in leather.
Everyone also has some form of wrist guard or wrapping. The Valkyrie has one full glove, probably for the purpose of doing zany shit like this:
Their boots are all calf-high, or else augmented with spats.
5. MODIFY EVERYTHING
Seriously, everything. These ladies have been living in the desert for years, and they have modified and repaired their clothes numerous times. Check out the side panel on UV4′s vest:
The only visibly whole items they have were clearly packed away for a long time before they gave them to the Sisters:
There are lots of ways to modify store-bought items–look up creative mending to get ideas.
And one more resource: this link has simple, easy-to-modify patterns for a leather cowl and spats!
Okay there’s more tho, that first gif, she’s looking over at the Vuvalini, they’re standing there watching their conversation and can you, CAN YOU, imagine how the conversation with these people she JUST got reacquainted with goes down maybe like:
Hey, so it’s been super long since I’ve met you but can you spare a bike for my bro here? Well we can haul the misplaced vuvalini on a trailer. He might… come with us? He did good, he’s good in a fight, he’s reliable.
#head in hands
Ugh. She talked to the Vuvalini and whatever she said had them agree to give him a bike. In this Wasteland? That’s so huge.
AND THE VUVALINI ARE RIGHT THERE WATCHING THE CONVERSATION.
So much awkward.
This scene slays me so incredibly hard. There’s something so formal and polite about the wording of her invitation to him that’s been absent from the dialogue thus far. As though they were living in a different time and she’s inviting him to a BBQ with her mates, and she doesn’t want him to feel like he’ll be crashing it. When actually HERE LET ME GIVE YOU SOMETHING TOTALLY VALUABLE THAT OTHER PEOPLE WOULD KILL FOR LIKE IT’S NOTHING.
*dies*
IT’S NOT EVEN HER THING TO GIVE. She had to ASK for it, and it’s clearly a big deal because
1) Miller would not have put the Vuvalini in that scene
Fully loaded. You’re more than welcome to come with us.
Okay I have writing promises to keep but I need to scream about this for JUST ONE MOMENT. (okay no first tho, ‘you’re more than welcome’ oh god what Furiosa what, what’s coming out of your mouth, do you realize Furiosa has like 100 lines in this movie, she uses short sentences, she doesn’t waste words. what is she. what is falling out of her mouth.)
And this bike tho.
Check out his bike.
Look at all the fabric on it. That’s not fabric scavenged from War Boys. That’s Vuvalini fabric. All except his new neck scarf, which the costuming behind the scenes notes indicate is a status symbol among War Boys. And he doesn’t appear to have it the night before despite the chillyness.
It’s the same fabric. Did she seriously just promote him secretly? Like, oh hey, here’s this scarf, you’ll probably find it useful. (oh hey, here’s this medal of honor, I think you can make use of the pin. oh hey, here’s this cop car, you should drive it. Oh hey wear this doctor’s lab coat… YOU JUST DON’T DO THAT.) Just imagine Max going back to the Citadel and the War Boys automatically calling him Imperator and his deeply deeply confused face.
But back to the bikes, even more, compare:
Nux and Capable in the back, then a trailer, then two bikes, another half-full trailer with a vuvalini riding it, then a bunched up group in front:
Now Max is the lead bike, Furiosa’s bike doesn’t have any gear on it.
For the most part there’s maybe half the amount of stuff on their bikes as that which’ve been crammed onto Max’s. Even taking into account the the amount that’s been crammed onto the trailers, you have to admit that Max’s bike is more than just “fully loaded”, if we assume a fully-loaded bike is the average bike you see here.
Now I just want you to imagine Max’s awkward face as the Vuvalini all try to press things into his hands and giving him head daps and Furiosa not even looking because she tried yesterday, dammit, and he already told her no and she’s busy checking things over kthxbye.
