How Jennifer Lopez Became a Futuristic Warrior in Netflix’s ‘Atlas’

In the past couple of months, Jennifer Lopez has worn gowns from Schiaparelli, Monique Lhuillier, Chloé and Zuhair Murad on red carpets. Starting on Friday, her fans will get to see her in outfits far less glamorous in the new Netflix film “Atlas.”

Brad Peyton directed and produced the film, which tells the sci-fi story of Atlas Shepherd, played by Lopez. Her character is a misanthropic data analyst who has a complicated relationship with artificial intelligence and needs to save humanity’s future.

To help Lopez channel the anti-AI warrior, costume designer Daniel Orlandi imagined how the fashion industry would look like in the future. “We talked about a lot of things. A hundred years in the future will Ralph Lauren still be in business? Will the Gap still be in business? I think it will,” Orlandi said via statement.

Orlandi created the costumes worn by Lopez in the movie prioritizing fabrics with synthetic fibers. “We thought about how fabric might change in the future. So everything we use seems vegan, there’s no leather. We questioned if wool would even be available in the future,” he explained.

Lopez starts her journey wearing a jacket inspired by Carhartt’s signature style. Later, her character is seen with fewer layers, wearing shirts and tank tops, reflecting her vulnerability.

In “Atlas,” Lopez’s character spends most of her screen time inside a mechanical suit, which borrowed inspiration from one of the late designer Virgil Abloh’s works.

“Initially, we started the design stage by looking at F-15 fighter jets because this has to be something built and used by the military, so we used the basic cockpit concept but then built a bipedal mech suit that a person could theoretically be in for weeks or even a month. So, for the interior, we looked at classic sports cars and ended up zeroing in on the late designer Virgil Abloh’s interior design of a Maybach,” Peyton said. “It’s a half-a-million-dollar to a million-dollar car, and it had this luxury but utilitarian feel to it. We then overlaid our future tech, the holograms, the screens, on top of the leather. It was a marriage of form and function.”

According to production designer Barry Chusid and cinematographer John Schwartzman, the outside of the mechanical suit was designed to be deliberately warmer in color in order to complement Lopez’s skin tone.

“Atlas” is Lopez’s second streaming release in 2024. The singer can also be found on Prime Video with “This Is Me…Now,” a musical film inspired by her love story with husband Ben Affleck.