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Playing Dress Up
Costuming the Principal Characters
REVELATIONS presented some unique challenges in costuming all characters but especially the principals. The main characters included Imperial officials, rogues, smugglers, and of course, Jedi. Dawn Cowings and Sarah Yaworsky designed and created most of the wardrobe used in the film.
RTOF: What was your goal in costuming the main characters?
DAWN: In A New Hope, the clothing seems simple, “off the rack” in a sense. It looks like clothing from the 70s with a little modification. But The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones present very luxurious, elaborate outfits. REVELATIONS is set between Episodes 3 and 4 of the Star Wars saga so we went for a mixture to represent this stylistic transition.
We also wanted a “used” look to our characters. The movie is set during a very dark time in the galaxy. We wanted clothes that would seem in keeping with people who are always on the move, trying to blend in.
RTOF: Is that why didn’t you opt for the traditional Jedi Garb?
DAWN: Again, it’s a nasty time for the galaxy. If the Jedi are being hunted we felt it just wouldn’t make sense for them to advertise their presence by wearing Jedi garb. We believed they’d conceal their sabers, probably hide that “Zen-ness” that all Jedi cultivate, and overall try to blend in. The other more practical reason is we absolutely dreaded the thought of making Jedi garb. We’re authenticity nuts and sewing raw silk made us shudder. The expense… keeping it clean…no, thank you! In some ways not wanting to sew the Jedi robes is what dictated the time frame for the movie.
RTOF: All of your main characters go through a costume change, some more than twice. Why?
SARAH: Because we're insane. Truthfully, though, we felt challenged by the scope of the movie and the many locations. REVELATIONS has a very rich feel and the costumes had to keep pace
We felt that it was appropriate for a high-powered character like Zhanna to express herself through her wardrobe. She holds herself like a commander so we gave her variations on a uniform-like theme -- the belt, the straps, the loincloths, the cape wrap. Lots of black leather, which has a fetish edge, but softened by the drape of a rich red fabric. We wanted to express not only Zhanna's power but also how much she enjoyed having it and wielding it. After all, power equals time and luxury. That also played into her hairstyle. It changes every time her outfit does. We joked that her minions are clearly multi-talented -- they carry out her orders and do her hair!
For our other principals, we wanted to emphasize the passage of time. Declan and Cade are living on the Cougar (Declan's ship) and so would naturally change their clothes over the course of a journey. It also seemed plausible that Taryn might have some supplies on-board or that Declan, who always thinks ahead, would have something for her just in case.
RTOF: The Corellian Security forces have a striking look. How was that created?
DAWN: It all started with Han Solo’s pants.
SARAH: As in so many fanfics....
DAWN: The bloodstripe that we see in A New Hope is supposedly from his days in the Corellian military. So working from those pants we decided to backwards-engineer the look of the military. Since CorSec was in the glory days of the Republic we decided that the uniform should have a dashing, heroic look to them. These officers should be “mad, bad, and dangerous to know”. Shane’s a huge Sharpe’s Rifles fan and so we referenced the English Rifleman’s jacket from the Napoleonic wars. The trick then became how do we make this not look like a marching band uniform!
To finish the look, we added a red satin sash to make it reminiscent of the Napoleonic and American Civil wars. All of CorSec have a holster similar to Solo’s and a Solo-style blaster as well. Shane added the baldric and chain for a bit of dash. :)
Originally we were going to make uniforms in a number of different colors. Since Solo has a yellow bloodstripe in The Empire Strikes Back we thought we could take our cue from that. But after much discussion we decided that it wouldn’t look as striking so we had all of CorSec in one color.
After the uniform was designed came the actual piecing together of the costume. Sally Carlisle of Carlisles Historical Clothiery took on the task of making each of the five jackets. They were all tailored to fit the actors. This was especially difficult as we were filming in Virginia, she was in Texas, and our actors were in Virginia, North Carolina, and Utah. She gave them each a measurement sheet to fill out. This way the costumes would fit like a uniform with all cuffs, collars, and hems hitting everyone in the same place.
To keep things simple we had each actor supply a pair of pants that I created a stripe for and hand tacked on. The idea was the actor could salvage the pants later but none of the actors have done that. They like their uniforms and the way they look in them. I have to say that’s probably the highest compliment.
SARAH: I know those uniforms have been worn at various conventions, including Dragon*Con in Atlanta, and they get a lot of attention and interest.
RTOF: Was anyone else involved in the design process?
SARAH: The only other major costume design from "out of house" was Zhanna's aide. Interestingly enough, it was a concept design from another fan film, one that never got made.
DAWN: Meghan Sherrill was over helping us out with storyboarding when we asked about costuming ideas. She pulled an old sketch out of her portfolio and started adapting it to the look we wanted. She went home, tweaked it a bit more, and came up with this incredible design that was a perfect compliment to Zhanna’s costumes and in keeping with the opulence of the time period.
Once again we called on the services of Sally Carlisle who tailored the costume to fit our actor. To round it out we used Civil War cavalry boots. They’re not Solo’s jackboots but still in keeping with the style.
RTOF: Costumes often convey characterization, even if only on a subconscious level. What do we learn about the REVELATIONS characters through their clothing?
SARAH: I've already mentioned how we expressed Zhanna's power through her clothes. Her ball gown reinforces that, not only through its sheer luxury and extravagance, but because it's such a contrast to the practicality of her other costumes. But you can see a constant characterization in the clean lines and the... oh, what's the best word -- crispness, maybe, or discipline? Restraint, perhaps. She's got the corset and the obi and the high collar, and she has to carry herself just so. You can see how she sees herself, what kind of image she wants to show others.
Our other big theme for costume characterization was color. The Empire is black and white and red, with some grey for design contrast. Zhanna's rogues have very straight lines, lots of angles, in their uniforms, because they're out in the field, while her aide has curved elements because he's essentially at court. His outfit is also shinier, like her ball gown, while the fighters are all flat matte tones.
Cade and Raux are in touch with old-fashioned Jedi ideals so we put them in earth tones, very warm shades of brown and peach and green. Taryn and Declan are more tech-oriented, so we put them in cool blues and touches of silver.
And there's one little, tiny spoiler that we hinted at with a costume element but our lips are sealed! Ask us on April 17th....
RTOF: Finish this thought -- if you knew then what you know now....
SARAH: Oh, so many things would have changed! We would have thought more about the physicality of the costumes -- not just how easy they were for the actors to wear but how easy they were to fight in. That was something that hadn't really occurred to us when the first costumes were made but as we came closer to the big fight sequences we realized that some changes needed to be made. Fortunately, we'd already decided that everybody was going to get new costumes so we were able to adapt some things. But we did it all backwards -- we took the looks we liked and then tried to make them work as fight gear. If we did it over, we'd have looked at appropriate fight gear first and then worked to make them look good for the movie.
And we apologize for making Gina and Karen run on gravel in heeled boots. Sincerely. And often.
DAWN: Oh, I take back that apology! We told the girls they’d be doing a lot of intense fighting and each one assured us they’d be more comfortable in heels. So don’t blame the costumers on that one. :)
Changes -- everything that Sarah said. I would have liked to have spent more time on some of the costumes adding detail that the camera wouldn’t pick up but would make our actors feel in character. I would have had someone else do the sewing. We had so much other stuff going on that designing the costumes and doing the fittings was incredibly time consuming. We’d probably make a second set of costumes since it was always a crazy rush to make sure the costumes were prepped for shooting.
One time Declan’s and Taryn’s costumes were covered in mold. They’d washed them and hung them up in a plastic bag over the summer before they were completely dry. When we had an emergency re-shoot months later, well, the mold wasn’t discovered until they were getting into costume. So they washed Taryn’s shirt and of course, it was the one night when it wasn’t warm outside. Keep in mind we’re filming in Shenandoah Caverns from 6pm-6am. Eventually, with a lot of people helping out by taking turns holding it in front of a fan, and rearranging the shooting order, the shirt was dry and Gina could film without risking pneumonia (the caverns were wet and freezing). So, yeah, a second set of clothing would have helped. And I think Declan split his pants at one shoot.
SARAH: Thank heavens, it was at a studio shoot. Frank had another pair of pants in his luggage that he could use, but if he hadn't, we could've bought something on the spot.
DAWN: And call me crazy but I would have liked more costume changes. Designing costumes was one of the best parts of making this movie
SARAH: Okay, you're crazy. And believe me, I should know.
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