1. Exhibition, book reveal storytelling power of ‘Star Wars’
costumes
By Tish Wells
McClatchy Newspapers August 24, 2005
WASHINGTON—George
Lucas created the "Star
Wars" universe in black and
white, essentially. Princess
Leia, in the virginal white
dress,was good.Darth
Vader, in the black plastic
variant of a Nazi helmet, was
evil.
When Lucas returned to
making "Star Wars" movies in
1995,however, he brought with him a richer and more literate
imagination—not to mention far deeperpockets forcostume budgets.
So he dressed characters in the second trilogy of "Star Wars" films in
far more subtle, opulent and allusive styles. The new costumes were
in black and blue leather, red silk velvet, aqua satin, pastel chiffon
and multiple strands of cascading pearls.
Many costumes from both periods will be on display in a new book
and in an upcoming "Star Wars" costume exhibition opening in Los
Angeles in September,and in a runway presentation at New York's
Fashion Weekin September.All provide rich insight into the
storytelling that costumes did for Lucas, often without viewers
realizing it. Costume designers,who do realize it, often use "Star
Wars" costumes as exemplars.
In the more recent trilogy, Lucas' high conceptwas to impress upon
the viewer that the "Star Wars" universe had existed for thousands of
years across thousands of star systems;indeed,that each planet had
its own culture and history. To get that across,he and his designers
ransacked Earth's cultures for their finest eye candy and reintroduced

2. morsels of it in "Star Wars" costumes.
Lucas' Scottishcostume designerfor the newer trilogy, Trisha Biggar,
dressed exotic residents of the Galactic Republic in Mongolian and
Tibetan styles, for example. She clad heroic good-guy Jediin
monastic robes of linen and wool, brown, white and black. Glimpses
of Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite and Art Nouveau styles are scattered
through the films.
The most elaborate costumes belong to Padme Amidala (Natalie
Portman). As Queen of Naboo in the first film of the new trilogy, "The
Phantom Menace," she wears heavy Kabuki-style robes and
elaborate headdresses,oftenpearl-bedecked.In the next film,
"Attack of the Clones," she picnics and flirts in a gold silk frock with
tiny appliqued pink roses.Finally, in "Revenge of the Sith," she
conceals her pregnancy in enveloping gowns of lush green and
burgundy velvet, saving a blue silk-satin negligee for intimate
moments.
It's all a far cry from the rudimentary if mythic designof the original
Vader headgear, which simply crossed a German World War II
helmet and a gas mask, according to the new "Star Wars" exhibit's
catalog and $50 costume book, titled "Dressing A Galaxy."
As Lucas explains it in a bonus featurette on "The Phantom Menace"
DVD: "I very scrupulously avoided fashion in the other movies.I
made Princess Leia very, very simple. ... This time we're walking right
into a fashion statement, head-on."
Kerri S. Packard, an adjunct associate professorand costume
designerat the University of Missouri in Columbia, says Lucas and
Biggar are well-worth studying.
"I use the `Star Wars' saga when I talk about how a costume sets a
movie in a time and a space,and how a designeruses her own
ideas ... a little Japanese,a little Gothic period influence," Packard
said in an interview.
The realm of "Star Wars" costumes has lots of room for the exotic,
thanks to the human and non-human diversity of Lucas' world. "There

3. are creatures from all over the universe, and they're not all going to
look like humans," said Kevin Jones, curator of the Fashion Institute
of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, which is hosting the show.
The show opens Sept. 19 and runs through Dec. 10. It's called
"Dressing A Galaxy: The Costumes of Star Wars."
Among the exhibits are the head of an "Ishi Tib," which Starwars.com
defines as a "biped with bulbous eyes and bird-like beak," and squid-
headed "Tessek" from "Return of the Jedi."
Some of the costumes on display are from the original trilogy. Among
them is Princess Leia's slave-girl bikini from "Return of the Jedi." It's
made of hard plastic with a flimsy cloth drape and has required
construction of a special mannequin, according to Jones,"because
it's so tiny." Such "classic costumes" from the original trilogy are hard
to come by, he explained, because "not that many survived."
In addition to the original Darth Vader costume and C-3PO's golden
metal body, the exhibit will offeran arsenal of lightsabers and even a
Wookiee's crossbow.Also featured is the coffinthat bore Padme
Amidala to her final resting place, clad in watery gray-blue-green silk
embroidered with vintage hand-dyed sequins.
ProfessorLourdes Fontof the Fashion Institute of Technologyin New
York City says the exhibit "can bring both the film's fictional
characters and its glamorous stars into the realm of the visitor's direct
sensory experience."
"Star Wars" shows tend to pull big audiences. The Smithsonian
Institution's National Air and Space Museum drew more than a million
visitors to its 14-month exhibit called "Star Wars: The Magic of Myth"
in 1997-1999.
The L.A. show, while free,will require tickets and timed entry. Tickets
are available, with an online processing fee,on the Fashion Institute
of Design& Merchandising's Web site at http://starwars.fidm.edu/#fix.

4. ———
A timeline for the "Star Wars" saga:
"EpisodeI: The Phantom Menace" (released 1999)
"EpisodeII:Attack of the Clones" (released 2002)
"EpisodeIII:Revenge of the Sith" (released 2005)
"EpisodeIV:A New Hope" ("Star Wars"—released 1977)
"EpisodeV: The Empire Strikes Back" (released 1980)
"EpisodeVI:The Return of the Jedi" (released 1983)
———
These sites offerhistorical and visual references to "Star Wars"
costumes:
Fashion Institute of Design& Merchandising:
http://starwars.fidm.edu/#fix
Mongolian fashions:
http://www3.uakron.edu/worldciv/russ/minority.html#mongol
Padme's headdress:
http://www.skiouros.net/varia/ncmpr/ncmpr028.htm or
http://www.skiouros.net/varia/ncmpr/
Star Wars: www.starwars.com
Smithsonian Institution exhibit: Star Wars, the Magic of Myth (1997):
http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/StarWars/guide.htm

5. Read more here:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2005/08/24/12324/exhibition-book-reveal-
storytelling.html#storylink=cpy