How to Dress for Success in New Greeceland, part 1

[marycrawford]

thefourthvine has posted a hilarious Fandoms I Have Loved overview of Stargate SG-1, with links to recs and resources, and one of them was niamaea's SG-1 photo essays about Jack and Daniel's outfits throughout the seasons. I've just spent way, way too much time reading every single one of them and laughing my head off. (The first one is here: Everybody's Crazy 'Bout A Sharp-Dressed Man, pt 1.)

Of course, being the kind of fan I am, I immediately wanted to do a similar fashion post for Hercules: the Legendary Journeys. There is just one problem with this, and that's the horrendous failure on the part of TPTB to come up with more costumes for Hercules and Iolaus. Xena and Gabrielle got a costume makeover every other episode, including fetching samurai and hindu idol outfits, whereas Herc and Iolaus spent six seasons tooling around in the same clothes, and yes, I am still ridiculously bitter about this.

However, from the essays it's clear that HtLJ is much better at nudity than SG-1, where you apparently only see nudity if someone's just descended from being ascended, or whatever the hell you call that. And HtLJ did have its fair share of entertaining outfits, especially when you factor in the evil twins, lookalikes, demonic possession and amnesia. Also, and most importantly, looking at HtLJ screencaps just never fails to cheer me up, especially from any episode that has the Widow Twanky in it.

So, here we go! How to Dress for Success in New Greeceland, part 1, featuring young Hercules and Iolaus and whoever else we meet on the way.





(from Medea Culpa)

From left to right: young Iolaus, young Hercules and young Jason. Clearly, their fashion tastes were pretty much set in stone from the teenage years on: leather pants of hotness, open shirt/vest of accessibility, and lots of sturdy leather accessories. Iolaus and Jason are carrying all the weapons and bags, probably because they know Hercules would just give it all away to whoever looked pathetic enough.

I do wonder a bit about Iolaus' mom and why she thought putting all the clothing scraps in her basket towards one single patchy garment was a good idea.

Hercules doesn't have his Hephaestian gauntlets yet, and Iolaus is wearing a stone medallion, but it's not the green manaia he wears as an adult. Did he get that from Skouros while he was alive, or inherit it?

I don't think the sheepskin lining is a particularly good look for Hercules, either, but it's kind of endearingly fluffy, and I bet very soft if one were to slip a hand inside.




(fromTwilight)

Same outfits, now in the New Greeceland Camo look - just add mud and general depression. But look at Jason! He's gotten himself a military buzzcut. No, wait, it's not a buzzcut when they don't even have electric razors, is it? Let's call it a Spartan do instead. If there's any canon explanation for this, I don't know what it is, but it looks great on him. We need some more young Jason, I feel.




(from Top God)

Young Jason in Academy exercise pants, tattoo and nothing else = yowza. Really, no wonder Alcmene fell for him. We note that Hercules kept his shirt on and didn't change his outfit at all, even though he was sparring with Jason earlier and everybody else around them was wearing the black pants. Hmf. Also, do we know what Jason has a tattoo of? It's kind of hard to make out.




Young Hercules and Apollo, whose bling stands out even in New Greeceland. Especially his choice of accessory:



I... am not sure what Hercules and Jason are staring at. Or why they look so scared. Or why they're almost holding hands.


I don't have any screencaps of actual Young Hercules episodes (as opposed to flashback eps from Hercules), so I'll have to borrow a couple from the fabulous Mike's Images to round things off:



(from Keeping Up With The Jasons)

Whoever decided we needed a shot of young Iolaus in this pose: thank you. *pause for appreciation*

Different, even patchier but better looking vest, an extra band around the biceps, new wristbands, very tightly sewn leather pants, and a blingy metal medallion thing. The Academy was good for Iolaus, obvy.




(from Mystery of Life)

A different, possibly younger young Hercules. Shall we just say he grew up very very blond and then his hair darkened later on? *cough*

I'm not a fan of the studded belt, so much, and a bit perplexed by the gauntlets - does he have one of the Hephaestus-made metal bands here, and not the other?


To be continued in >How to Dress for Success in New Greeceland, part 2, or: Why Does Iolaus Not Wear Pants?

Comments

[sif-aka-joanna.livejournal.com]

I love this! A great retrospective of fashion adn I'm looking forward to part Deux.

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks! And that's a very cute pic of MH and you (I presume) in your icon. *g*

[sif-aka-joanna.livejournal.com]

Yes - at one of the few US cons he has done. I probably need to convert to a paid account to get more icons - but this one is handy in case someone has seen me before but doesn't recognize the name.

[falzalot.livejournal.com]

:: loves :: !!!!!

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

*beams*

[maenad.livejournal.com]

Well, it's true they determinedly avoided any kind of sartorial change, but one can kind of see why. Those were good, durable clothes! It isn't merely that they survived the ordinary rigours of adventurous living-- dirt, bloodstains, rips, arrow holes, immersion in the kind of monster related goo that would make any sane person burn everything they were wearing the moment the battle was over, if not sooner (fire is practical in those hydra encounters)-- no, they also have a regenerative power that rivals Iolaus'. Despite being lost, stolen, destoyed and accidentally left in alternate dimensions, they pop up again without a mark on them. I sometimes wonder if there's a missing scene in The Lost City wherein Iolaus refuses to leave until he's dug out his pants, lest he end up as Alexander the Great's new catamite and have to put up with death glares from Hephaistion and Bagoas. :)

*snickers* You know, um, confronted by Apollo, I'd cling to the nearest mortal and look terrified, too. Most of his lovers end up as plants, and that is presumably after being blinded by his outfit. :)

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Hee, yay, more commentary from you! *bounces happily*

Despite being lost, stolen, destoyed and accidentally left in alternate dimensions, they pop up again without a mark on them.

I know, I know - TPTB had all these built-in excuses for wardrobe changes, why not use them! Rar. But yes, to keep my head inside canon rather than poke it outside, clearly their clothes were incredibly durable. Also (but we'll get to that in the caps), the one thing that makes some kind of sense is that we know Hercules got a new pair of pants from his mom on his birthday. Every year, one presumes, which at least solves the question of what to buy for the guy who doesn't have a home to put it in.

I sometimes wonder if there's a missing scene in The Lost City wherein Iolaus refuses to leave until he's dug out his pants, lest he end up as Alexander the Great's new catamite and have to put up with death glares from Hephaistion and Bagoas. :)

HEE. What an intriguing yet horrifying thought.

Most of his lovers end up as plants, and that is presumably after being blinded by his outfit. :)

Yeah, and from the series we can tell why, too. Zeus may be an old lech, but at least he's not such a jerk his lovers turn themselves into trees and whatnot just to get away from him...

[suchthefangirl.livejournal.com]

Love love love!

Can't wait for part II!

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanks! Hope to get to part II soon. :-)

[rosawestphalen.livejournal.com]

lovesyoulovesyoulovesyou!
This is fabulous and made my morning so much brighter!!!

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Awww, thank you kindly! Hope to see you around in IRC again. :-)

[fred-god-of.livejournal.com]

Love, lots of love and hope for more :-)

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Yay, thanks - I hope to get to part II soon. :-)

[spikeface.livejournal.com]

Brilliant! I lolled all over the place, when I wasn't drooling over badly-dressed-but-so-hot Apollo and his long, hard, gorgeous... surfboard. Great choice of caps, as well.

Would you mind if I shamelessly gacked this for X:WP? Or were you going to do it yourself?

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Yay for the lolz, and please go ahead and do this for X:WP! That would be so much fun. And I'm not able to do it myself, as I still don't even have the DVDs.

If you do an XWP fashion post, do let me know so I can link to it?

[ruric.livejournal.com]

OMG now I really want to get my hands on all the episodes of Young Hercules....which sadly I never saw.

And I have a yen to rewatch all the DVDs of H:tLJ- which are sitting on my shelves right over there *g*

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Aw, yay rewatching!

Maybe if you look for it as a torrent, or as YouTube files or something, you might be able to find some YH? (I must add, though probably you already knew - the blond guy in the very last cap plays Hercules all through YH, not the coltish brunet in the other pics, and personally I felt that the blond was a poor substitute, but YMMV.)

[elynross.livejournal.com]

Okay, now I really want to watch Young Hercules, too. And wow. Jason is. And Apollo. And young Herc and Iolaus and. Oh, the joys of male pulchritude!!!

(and now I have better mental images for The Wizard Hunters! *g*)

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Awww. Yay! And yes. He is! and they are. And I do have me some YH to watch if you want to come over...*grins*

[kseenaa.livejournal.com]

*snicker* These were fun!:-D

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

Yay, glad to hear it!

[mythdefied.livejournal.com]

So, there here I am, eating dinner and reading through your post, when I reach the pic of shirtless Jason. At some point I realized I'd been sitting here, staring, mouth open, fork halfway to my mouth, for a rather long time.

Oh my god, I'd forgotten just how semi-nakedly hot that show got. I think it would've been much better with the first YHerc, not the blond one, but he was okay. He never took his shirt off, though. Jason and Iolaus spent plenty of time shirtless, even the bad guys had nice, tight outfits, but Herc was always wearing a little too much, too loosely.

I think I need to go pull out the DVDs and reminisce.

BTW, I've been meaning to ask someone who knows: what's the history with Iolaus' medallions? I don't even know which ep(s) to go to for reference on that one.

[marycrawford.livejournal.com]

(Hey, sorry I haven't gotten back to your archive comments yet, but I will once I've figured out how to fix some stuff!)

Glad you appreciate the buff half-nekkid Jason! He is just..yowza.

And yeah, I think it would've been better with the first YH too, not to spoil anyone's squee, but. He just *fit*.

Iolaus' medaillons: well, as far as I know there's only one that has history, and that's the green jade one he wears everywhere in the series. In Love Takes A Holiday we learn that Iolaus' dad Skouros wandered away from his village as a toddler, wearing the amulet, just before Hades froze that village in time. So when Iolaus shows up wearing the amulet, his grandmother recognizes it. Evidently he inherited it from his dad somewhere after YH.

Then in the sixth season, when Iolaus is killed, his amulet is broken in two, and Hercules wears the remaining half around his neck for a while (which I find a very powerful image) until he gives it to Nebula.

[mythdefied.livejournal.com]

Ian Bohem just looked a whole lot more like Hercules, at least IMHO. He also appeared more similar in age to Jason and Iolaus, whereas, the blond guy seemed far too young. I know Hercules was supposed to be younger, but not that young.

Okay, I remember the ep you're talking about. Thank you for sharing the info, and for pics of YIolaus without the medallion. I'd been under the mistaken impression that he always wore the green jade one, even at the Academy.