The costume vault

As I suppose you are all aware, I've written extensively about the costumes for Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars Prequels in this blog. It seems only logical, this is, after all, a blog dedicated to Costume Design, and hers is pretty iconic and vast. You can find all my articles dedicated to her here . Unfortunately, it seems my thoughts and opinions on the matter have not been welcomed by some, as I've gotten a lot of messages violently asking me why I hate Padmé Amidala's costume design, and even, sometimes, going as far as to accuse me of hating the character itself. This has left me a bit worried, and I thought it was time for sharing some honest thoughts on the matter. EPISODE I: I'M NOT PARTICULARLY FOND OF THESE MOVIES I've certainly claimed this a lot. And it's true. It is a true statement not only for me but for a lot of people as well if the internet is to be believed. Still, somehow, some people have taken this claim to mean that as I do not like the mo...

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, the size of Padme's wardrobe is leaning towards big. One might even say gigantic. Because of this, I am forced to choose which ones I review and which ones I don't. Otherwise, I would still be reviewing the costumes from Episode I . Thanks to this selection process, right now, in my Padme series, I am reviewing costumes already from Revenge of the Sith . But lately, I've been thinking a lot about those designs that got "lost in the selection", as I call them. WHY WEREN'T THESE SELECTED? Generally, those that I did not select for the series were considered "not interesting enough". But what does that mean? Well, it means two things; either they pulled from the exact same influences as any of the dresses I had already addressed (which would make for a very repetitive article) or were considered too simple and basic to talk about them at length. And then, of course, were those that I simply did not like...

The last design from Episode II which I am going to be covering is the wedding gown, which happens to be the literal last outfit worn by the character in the movie. She wears this dress in the final scene of Episode II, during her wedding with Anakin. It's a brief scene, but somehow people really remember this gown. The design consists of an intricate gown made of lace and beads that goes with a lace veil. The gown is long and flowing, and has a small tail. The white fabric is decorated with an off-white delicate embroidery. The sleeves reach her elbows and are hemmed with scalloped lace. The entire gown is studded with pearls. This gown takes from various historical sources, most of them pertaining to the early 20th century. The basic ones with which it works are Edwardian fashion (1901-1911) and the 1920's. The basic structure, with the gown and the laced overdress, is clearly taken from late Edwardian fashion. These dresses (dated 1912) are quite...

This is the last Senate design for Episode II; the "velvet Senate" gown, and it's one of the most over the top designs. It's big, lavish and extravagant; it's the ultimate Senate gown. And yet, it's not even in the movie. She wears this gown during her address to the Galactic Senate after the attempt on her life. Unfortunately, this dress was cut from the final edit of the movie (you can see the scene in the DVD special editions), which is a sad fact waste of a gorgeous design. The design consist of a golden underdress with a dark blue velvet overdress that has the lapel and collar turned up. Attached to both sides of the collar, under the lapels, rests a glossy, crimped scarf-like shawl that is tied together at her mid-back with a large, beaded ribbon. The ends drift apart as they fall down. The full sleeves end at the elbow, giving way to a drawn-up sleeve of lustrous fabric. The gold underdress is decorated with needlework around the high...

For the past two years I've been working (rather on and off, one might add) in a series of articles dedicated to the immense wardrobe of Padme Amidala in the Star Wars Prequels. I don't focus on absolutely every dress, I only look at those that are either memorable or that has really interesting influences behind. Up to this point, I've done three gowns of The Phantom Menace and three of Attack of the Clones. At this point, I will not do anymore for Episode I, because most of them (if not all) are Asian inspired and there are just so many ways of talking about geisha attire and imperial attire. But for Episode II I will do between three and four more, that I will try to publish before the end of the year (if life and work don't get in the way). But for the moment, as a little retrospective, I've designed these little graphic companions for every one of the designs that I've done so far, which will also be added to the original articles. To see them ...