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Nothing says Ultimate Evil quite like a Well-Tailored Villain. Sure, they tend to go for a black color scheme and often the cut of their attire is fairly severe, but the Best of the Best Villainous Costumes make you want to tear off those capes, rip through that leather and undo their buttons with your teeth.
6 - Darth Vader in Star Wars 4-6 (Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi). It isn't really a Villainous Attire list without some recognition for the Lord of the Sith. After all, he pretty much sets the standard with shiny black finish on his armor, a utility belt and a smashing cape. He does, however, lose some points because most of his outfit is, well, life support equipment. And he really sucks at stealth, what with the breathing apparatus and all. Of course, who needs to sneak around when you're in charge of the galaxy? When you've got it, flaunt it, baby!
5 - Saruman the White in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. In a dramatic reversal from standard black Villainous costume, Saruman the White decides to go with a theme for his clothing. Namely, monochromatic white robes. At the beginning of Fellowship, clearly he's trying to keep up his Good Guy facade, but that pretty much goes to hell after the Great Wizard Smackdown. Why doesn't he change into something more appropriate for his Bad Guy Character? Well why bother when the white robes look so fantastic? And do we detect extraneous use of power to keep his robes clean and white while mingling with his minions in the mud and the muck? Yes, precious, I think we do.
4 - Colonel William Tavington in The Patriot and Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. There's something about a man in uniform that makes all the Hot Bad Goddesses tingle and who could better pull off a fairly large, furry hat with more aplomb than Jason Isaacs as Colonel William Tavington. I mean, the UNIFORM comes with weapons! Killing people is part of his job! That's utterly fantastic. And later in the movie, Tavington takes off some of that smashing uniform. Yeah. We just LOVE 18th century underclothes. Lucius Malfoy, also portrayed by Jason Isaacs, gets points not only for his fantabulous black robes, but also for his smashing Snake-Headed Cane. He swoops after hapless victims like nobody's business and looks just lickable while doing it. Never before has looking Evil done so much for so many.
3 - Severus Snape in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. If Lucius Malfoy can swoop with the best of them, Severus Snape has raised it to an art form. In the first movie, he makes several rather intimidating swoops down corridors to catch evildoers, er, good-doers. In the second, he really comes into his own, appearing not just in his traditional big, swoopy robes, but also in a tight black dueling outfit complete with buttons. Lots of buttons. He's just so... Snapelicious... Mmmm... Buttons... Ooops, sorry. Got distracted there for a bit. What was I saying? Oh yeah, Snape and his buttons. Mmmm... Buttons...
2 - Magneto in X Men and X2: X Men United. A True Well-Tailored Villain, Magneto looks fantastic throughout both movies. Okay, well, not so much in the stark white prison gear with weird Velcro or something straps and a whole lot of unflattering lighting. However, when left to his own devices, Magneto is quite the excellent dresser. Sharp edges, nice tailoring, flattering cape, and cool boots make up for one excellent costume experience. I could do without the weirdly shaped helmet, but when your buddy is a wicked strong telepath, some fashion sacrifices must be made.
1 - Robert Lovelace in Clarissa. The Crème de la Crème of Nicely Attired Villains, Robert Lovelace, in general, skips the standard black clothing, big cape that are the trademarks of most Movie Villains. He instead goes for fantastic upper class clothing of the period and still manages to make them look like the Fashion Statements From Hell. Somehow his villainy cannot be concealed behind lacy cuffs and pink brocaded waistcoats. However, if you don't know that Mr. Lovelace is an Emissary from the Netherworld, you may be distracted by his fashionable clothing and actually let him into your house, where he would then take ruthless advantage of you. Clothing as an instrument of one's Evil Plans? Is it any wonder he's at the top of this list? I thought not.
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