Like most of the original 'Star Wars' costumes, the first Darth Vader was a mock-up that costume designer John Mollo created from stock clothing. In this world, tailors, embroiderers and velvet must have been cheap and plentiful.īiggar chose many floor-sweeping hemlines 'since we don't wear long every day, it removes it from the now, or the known and contemporary.' But it is precisely that nod to the known that helped give the first 'Star Wars' its iconic imagery. Though warriors and soldiers look the part, mostly this is a world of royalty, good guys and bad guys, all dressed in variously opulent, long and flowing silhouettes laden with quirky accessories. Then designers began to imagine distinct styles for each character.Ĭostume designer Trisha Biggar led a crew of up to 120 artists, including costume props supervisor Ivo Coveney and costume supervisor Nicole Young. Or to go back 20 years and look at the film and say, 'They're dated.' 'Ĭoncept artists created vast visual guidebooks that illustrated life on every planet, including the alphabet, architecture, vehicles and fashions. 'Clothing them was one of the biggest challenges,' said Lucas, 'because I didn't want the costumes to look designed.

Adjusting a bead here, a mannequin there, he said that depicting the height of intergalactic style in the 'Star Wars' prequel trilogy was so daunting he almost didn't make the films. George Lucas, the man who started it all, was on hand, too, to inspect the show and attend a preview party a few weeks ago. The queens and handmaidens are in one room, the pilots and soldiers in another and Jedi knights, senators and bounty hunters make appearances too.Īnd then there are the fans, who bought thousands of advance tickets and occasionally show up dressed as storm troopers themselves.

Feathered headdresses, furry eight-foot Wookiees, Jedi kids in mini tabards, and horned, blue-faced beings wearing something like saddles on their shoulders. Now, more than 100 original costumes from all six 'Star Wars' movies are on display in the downtown gallery of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising - the whole, wonderfully unwieldy weight of the 'Star Wars' universe. Just as those sequined pumps inspired intense awe and imitation, so do the iconic costumes from the 'Star Wars' movies - Darth Vader's helmet and light saber, the Jedi tunics and Queen Amidala's throne room gown hemmed with fur and glowing globes. Probably only Dorothy's red shoes have endured as much obsession.

Dressing a Galaxy by Trisha Biggar