  Over the next few weeks we are profiling a few of the costumes used throughout the series’. From the way they’re made to why they were designed the way they were. This week is the Techno costume. Click any of the costume pictures for a larger view.The Techno’s fell from the sky at the very end of Series 3. A plane overhead dropped parajumpers all over the city – the chaos had started.The Technos were a highly sophisticated tribe. They had technology, leadership and military type training. They had a ranking system with General’s that led special services within the tribe. Anyone that wasn’t a Techno was considered a “virt” – a mere virtual in the Techno world. The other unique aspect of the Techno’s was their uniform. No other Tribe had had a uniform before and this increased their authority around the city and made them instantly recognisable. In this article we look at both the female and male uniforms – they are very similar.
A panel on the front of the top is a long rounded oblong shape. It is made of clear plastic and at each end is sewn seven vertical stitches. Sewn across the plastic is a textured silver box on each side of the zip. The texture makes it look as though it is indented metal. On the top of each shoulder is a an extra rectangular piece of fabric that is sewn into the shoulder and domed up by the neck.
Each Techno is issued with the standard black tapered cargo pants. The female ones are a little more tapered than the mens to give a nice fit. Each pair of pants has a large cargo pocket on the side of the knee. Through the waistband is worn a Techno belt. This is actually an old seatbelt or safety belt from a car.
They’ve been painted silver and actually have a very thin round piece of metal sewn all the way around the outside so that they are mouldable to the face. The decoration is made of holes and a serated piece of plastic branching from the nose to the ear. There is also a large round red, black and silver button placed around by the ear. As the girls masks aren’t held on by elastic around the back like the boys masks the wire pieces around the edges have been looped at the top three points of the masks. The girls braids are threaded through these to hold them on.
|
To the right is the Male Techno top. They are made purposely long so that they can be tucked into the pants. Each top is made of stretchy black lycra and cut in a smaller size so that it fits nice and tight. The neck on the tops is about an inch thick and goes half way up the neck. A red zip goes all the way down the front and there is also red zips on each cuff that go half way up the forearm.
The female version of the top is very similar in that it has the same panel at the front and the same long red zip down the front. The sleeves have been cut into four sections and are sewn together along the underside of entire arm. This version is also cut into a bodysuit shape that keeps it in place better 
and doesn’t leave any bulges under the pants if it were long and tucked in like the boys version.
You’ll see that the whole theme is red and black and the seatbelts all have red buttons that unclip them.
Around each leg is worn a type of holster. It doesn’t have much room to hold anything but it certainly hold a zapper. The top of it is looped through the belt and hangs down over the thigh. It then does up around the leg at the bottom. The actual pocket is on the front and has a silver eyelet with red and mesh behind it.
Where would the Techno’s be without communication? Each Techno is issued with a headset with which to communicate to each other instantly. These are just props and cannot actually be used. The headband goes around the back of the head and the two curves on either side of it sit over the ears with the microphone extending around towards the mouth. The ear pieces have been craftily fashioned to look very real and still in keeping with the red and black theme have red/mesh inserts.
To the right is Java’s boot. Thick and chunky as Tribe boots and shoes usually are. They have a large seration to the sole and a zip up the inside of the ankle. They have a large reflective pad at the top of the boot and the back of the boot drops down a little instead of being the same height all the way around.
Here is Java’s Techno mask. The girls only had half masks early on in Series 4 until they revealed themselves to their sister Ebony. The masks are made wtih heavy plastic that is bendable and not too stiff.
Unfortunately we didn’t have a boys mask to photograph and include on this page but you can see a smaller image of it below being worn on Ved.