^{I watched The Fifth Element (1997) for the first time last week. I know. Why did it take me so long to see a classic sci-fi movie, you ask? Probably because the word sci-fi is in the previous sentence. But I quickly put aside any reservations once I learned that Jean Paul Gaultier was the chief costume designer for the film.}

^{A certain feeling of kinship comes with wanting to copy a movie character’s style in real life and I definitely felt a kinship with the flamboyantly, fabulously dressed Ruby Rhod.}

^{As for the ladies, I’m sure JPG was given special instructions for what they should wear…or not wear.}

^{(Diva Plavalaguna’s costume was sick though.)}

^{Besides fawning over the high fashion looks, the film’s depiction of flying cars also intrigued me. Movies and cartoons (like The Jetsons) have long shown off iterations of this far-fetched vehicle, yet there was something about it in The Fifth Element that just felt really, well, real. Perhaps it’s because in one scene Leeloo comes crashing through the hood of Korben’s flying taxi. Nothing like violently crashing through the hood of a taxi to make things authentic.}

^{It’s fitting that a week later, with the film still fresh in my mind, I find out about an American aerospace company called Doroni and its plan to release a flying car in 2028, according to its website.}

^{There’s also another company called Alef Aeronautics that claims to have created the world’s first flying car.}

^{Ooo, I wonder what Elon Musk thinks about these.}

^{As for me, I’m skeptical.}

^{But what about you?}

^{In two years’ time, do you think it’s more likely that guys will start dressing like Ruby Rhod et al., or that you’ll look up in the sky and see a car?}