Clothes make the character

I visited the Detroit Institute of Arts today for their special exhibit Star Wars, the Power of Costume. The exhibit shows many costumes from the George Lucas private collection (or maybe a Lucas museum somewhere). It also includes concept art, so we sometimes see the evolution of a costume. The audio guide also offered explanations. Overall, an enjoyable show, especially for someone who has enjoyed (most of) the movies.

The commentary talked about the job of a costume – help explain or identify character traits in three seconds. To do that the costume draws on cultural signals – Darth Vader dresses in black because he is evil. Princess Leia dresses in white because she is a good person. But one must be careful. For example, the people who reside in the desert must wear clothes that are appropriate for the desert – but how much is the costume to evoke Arab dress and is the cultural baggage appropriate for the character?

There were many costumes of ambassadors, court officials, and royalty. How to make a royal person look royal? Using a European style crown isn’t going to work. So the costume team looked at the dress of dignitaries from around the world. That headdress is Mongolian, this detail is Japanese, that dress is modeled on Queen Elizabeth I, etc. We get the sense of royalty even if we can’t place what detail came from which culture. That cultural mishmash wasn’t confined to the royals – Vader’s helmet has Samurai influences (sheesh, the thirteen steps to get Vader into his costume had to be written out).

We see Chewie’s costume and told about the 15 pounds of yak hair that went into it. After the first three movies a cooling system was added. In the display Han is standing beside him. Harrison Ford looked at what he was to wear in the first movie and demanded the costume department remove the Peter Pan collar (I had to look it up) and use something simpler. Lucas did not comment. The costume for C-3PO is also there. He was modeled on the malevolent female robot from the silent era movie Metropolis. The actor inside didn’t care much for the costume but loved the caracter.

One display shows characters about to leap into a light saber battle. The commentary talked about how the costumes needed to be constructed so the actor could move uninhibited. The fighting costume for Darth Maul was designed so when he spun about the tunic would flare into a circle. The Jedi costume was to evoke their simple lifestyle such as that of a Buddhist, though it took cues from the Japanese kimono. And Yoda’s costume is a miniature of what the humans wore.

Another display was of the military costumes. The uniforms of the Empire military intentionally mimicked Nazi uniforms (only 32 years before the first movie). The orange of the Tie Fighters were modeled on the orange jumpsuits early astronauts wore. As for the Storm Troopers, their armor looked plastic (because it was), which implied they were all identical, they didn’t think for themselves, and an endless supply could be easily manufactured.

A display towards the end of the tour was many of the outfits Padme Amidala wore in the prequel trilogy. She had the largest number of different costumes and the most sumptuous, suitable for royalty in a wide variety of situations, including a picnic and wedding. Some were amazingly elaborate requiring hours of handwork.

The exhibit will be at the DIA until the end of September.