It’s Pretty Wild Stuff

The Movie: “Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book.”

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The Setup: Mowgli (Jason Scott Lee, pictured), an Indian boy raised by jungle animals, encounters a stiff-upper-lip British contingent and one English rose, Kitty (Lena Headey) in colonial India.

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The Costume Designer: London-based John Mollo, Academy Award winner for “Star Wars” and “Gandhi.” Credits also include “Greystoke: the Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes,” “The Three Musketeers,” “The Empire Strikes Back.” An authority on military wardrobe and weapons, he has written six books on the subject.

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The Look: Heavy on the embroidery, this Victorian costume romp is part historical, part fantasy.

Those pith helmet-topped British officers really kick up their fashion heels at night in navy tunics and crisp white jodhpurs decorated with blinding gold braid, chain mail epaulets and swaths of Indian silk sashes. (“Some regiments were even more sort of flashy,” Mollo says of his high-fashion approach. “There was one that entirely dressed in yellow.”)

Not to be one-upped, Mowgli sheds his jungle diaper and gets into party gear involving a grandiose, entirely invented coat (a cross between a cloak and an Indian tunic), and a tunic, circa 15th Century, stitched with gigantic golden paisleys.

Meanwhile, Kitty’s closet is a British-Indian amalgamation of breathtaking Indian beaded gowns and English sailor dresses worn with “Balmoral” boots, short lace-up boots appropriate for stomping through the jungle.

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You Should Know: Major Brydon (Sam Neill), Captain Boone (Cary Elwes) and other British soldiers give new resonance to the Gap ads for khakis.

Starting about 1840, British soldiers in India were the first to sport khakis--white uniforms died in tea or coffee to make them blend in with the countryside.

Their flashy, Gianni Versace-esque chain mail epaulets were actually another bona fide Indian invention. Because principal photography began in Jodhpur, India, it is fitting to note that soldiers also wear the narrowing trousers known to the world as jodhpurs.

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Quoted: “(Director) Stephen Sommers wanted the movie to look very, very pretty. He had in the back of his mind the old ‘Gunga Din,’ and that whole genre of English colonial films, and he wanted Kitty to look sexy,” Mollo says.

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Trivia: Street scenes filmed in Rajasthan showing crowds of Indians wearing exceedingly bright cotton tunics and jodhpurs in pink, red and yellow are the real things, outfits still worn today. “We asked the crowd to come dressed in a particular way, as villagers in their traditional clothes,” Mollo recalls. “We did the same thing on ‘Gandhi.’ Of course, not all of them do, so we had a stock of clothes ready and checked them all before we began shooting.”

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Sources: European men’s civilian clothes and tails were made in London; uniforms, Kitty’s dresses and Mowgli’s robes were made in India. “It was wonderful using Indian tailors and embroiderers,” Mollo says. “They’re so quick.” Kitty’s boots are from the Natural Shoe Co. in London. Cork pith helmets were purchased new in India.