COSTUMES

When I appeared in the Lara Croft Tv documentary of 2001, also appearing in this was a woman who dressed up in various 'Lara' outfits, for when going clubbing or attending parties, [although I wont hold that against her]. But then I thought who better to present Lara's costume changes over the years. So here she models her way through game history, with imagery from a photoshoot she did, where she posed in her own collection of replica costumes.

Incidentally, I'm the first an only person to use a 'live' model to represent Lara's costumes, as others use only a 2D computer image, which isn't exactly life-like or that professional. However the picture opposite is not the lady in question, but a professional model, whose wearing a decent replica costume, that can be purchased from 'Skin Two' who designed and made it. The woman mentioned earlier though is Jenny Morgan, [my Tv co-star ho-ho].  AccessoriesTo round-up, now I may be no fashion expert, as my sister keeps reminding me, but I am more familiar than most people with the type of attire worn, her accessories, the materials used, and their functional design -- no honestly!  Also, if you click her sunglasses as beside, you can separately view her accessories - an when I say her 'accessories' I don't mean the 2 things that fill her bra!

Lara's original outfit is what she wore in her debut game, an is known as the classic outfit. This is why she wears it in the first section of the subsequent games, thus acknowledging her historical origin. Thereafter the game environment determines any costume change. However, as this design didn't even make a cameo appearance in the film version, it shows the producers were quite ignorant of their lead characters cultural origin, and visual identity. Material-wise, the vest is made from latex, an the shorts are probably a polyester variant or rubberized cotton. The real ones are probably 100% cotton. The boot-socks are possibly made of hi-wick acrylic or duraspun nylon. A footwear similar to those shown are Magnum Pro boots by Hi-Tek.
Continuing in chronological order, is the wetsuit from the 2nd game. The cropped sleeves an legs reveal its designed for tropical waters only. The torch is probably by Maglite, who are well known to make high-quality durable torches, with most even working underwater. Notice her fake ponytail, [hair extension] is missing. Also, as her flippers are missing she must be readied for land operations. The handwear are called 'Shooters Gloves' an are best made from Kevlar.
This is a polar costume from the 3rd games antarctic visit. An orange coloured jacket is worn so that in case of emergency, like an avalanche, the victim can be seen more easily from a distance. Its probably made from a nylon shell with polyester fiberfill insulation, an has an Isotex coating plus a Teflon W-R finish, with a synthetic mesh lining. This would make it's layering waterproof but breathable.
Another costume from the 3rd game, is the one Lara wore while exploring 'Area 51' in Nevada, USA. With that southern state having an arid climate, the choice of wearing a cropped, scooped neck vest is ideal. Although sun-bloc factor 45 should not be overlooked. This top should be made from polycotton as it aerates the skin. Her footwear should be Desert boots, which have a Panama sole an no eyelets, which keeps out sand. Sunglasses should be UV resistant an with low reflexion.
The final costume from the 3rd game was used for traveling in the south pacific. As this region has a humid climate at times, the cropped vest would be made from polypropylene as it re-distributes perspiration. The shorts could be made from cotton- ripstop, by a company called ProFormance Cloth, as they invented this material for tropical environments. The sunglasses have red-tinted lenses in the games. For durability the boots could be suede.
This outfit appeared in the 2nd story of the 5th game. It was originally designed by Propper International during the 1950s for the US military, who are still under contract to supply these items. They are called BDU's which stands for Battle Dress Uniform, an comprise of an overshirt & trousers. Their deployment affects the material they're made from, namely, ie. NYCO Twill, ProDura Cloth, or Federal Cloth. However the camouflage pattern modeled here is called 'city-camo', when the type used in the game was actually 'midnight-urban-camo' - which I recognised before most people as I own the trousers! The headwear is a 100% wool-knit cap for insulation purposes. The footwear looks to be real leather, 11 inches high, side-buckled, an steel toe-capped - which is quite appropriate for a Russian climate, especially if they're lined with Dupont's Thinsulate and Gore-Tex.
Also in the 5th game, its 4th story, or chronicle, to be fastidious, had its heroine wear a black catsuit, which judging by its thread pattern, was probably made from lycra+elastine. However the one demonstrated beside looks more like latex, [an extract from an Asian rubber tree], or alternatively could be polyamide. The head-gear is an integrated ear-plug with boom microphone rig. In addition, the actual sunglasses had opaque lenses in rectangular frames, an not transparent lenses in oblong frames. Also the catsuit hadn't a scooped neck, an was rear-zip fastened. 
At the dawn of the 2000 millennium she appeared in her 6th game, an with this her image got an upgrade, to satiate the improved graphical capabilities of new game consoles, and video cards. The side-effect here was higher clothing detail. This newborn incarnation of Lara featured a new signature outfit as below, that was a subdued reworking of the classic design, an presented a moreover adult an darker tone. This is probably because the new games premise affected the colour choices available for appropriate design. The image featured above was used as the preliminary design for her new look, an thus was used in early PR campaigns. An though it was replaced by the following outfit, it was re-used for a quarter of the AOD game. However, originally her usual green vest was retained, but which then became gray, until finally settling upon black. Whereas the tan shorts became khaki trousers, until being re-coloured in olive-camo, as shown beside.

 

To either side is the AOD signature outfit that helped launch a new generation of graphic design for TR gaming. This outfit make-over showed still retained a vested top for Lara, but it changed its colouring from light-green to black. Notice how its higher neckline vanishes possible cleavage in the process. Footwear is still quarter-length flat-sole boots, but now buckle fastened rather than lace-up. A point to notice is that with keeping shorts, the new costume maintains similar skin-coverage as the original, for this vests higher neckline is offset by its raised lower hemline, revealing a bare midriff - instead of an open chest. The overall colour coding remains muted. The backpack is still present, as a logical accessory to store her booty, an is either made from leather or Gore-Tex nylon, as both are hard-wearing an weather resistant.  To answer a key issue that signifies her visage, her iconic twin gun belt, is actually an ergonomic handgun accessory called a ' low-ride holster'. Many inaccurate western films showed cowboys using this type, when in reality they drew from a hip-mounted holster, hence the term - 'to shoot from the hip'. Current purchasable versions are made from quilted ballistic nylon, an are mainly used by government security agencies.

CONCLUSION

As Lara is originally, an foremostly, a computer orientated character, I think it best to round-up this overview by showing her in her native form. Note that the pixels that reveal her image, are lesser than that captured by a photographic camera using celluloid film stock, so the details will be lesser than those pictures appearing above. Furthermore, for those acquiring replica costuming, they will have to match what their monitor shows, to obtain best authenticity, with what is buyable.  But the game designers create her outfits from their minds eye, whereas manufacturers only produce that they believe will sell, an from what they make, customers can only purchase. Therefore its always limiting from what's available to buy, when one endeavors to emulate her appearance properly. Overall though, regarding the costume collection of Ms Morgan above, as entirely displayed here, I'd say she's done very well in presenting Lara as faithfully as can be possible. [But more importantly, do you think I should ask her if she's up for it?]
DRAWINGS ACCESSORIES DRESS LARA
The finished article?

But is Lara saying to herself: "Are you looking at me? I say - are you looking at me? Coz I don't see no one else here but me. Just go for it! You lousy punk"

Ironically, on some TR websites Lara don't need no wardrobe as she don't wear no clothes from them !