How to make an Amidala-style faux-hair headdress

My dye job was, uh, not part of this particular costume.

Okay, so "faux-hair headdress" sounds awful, but I've never been entirely sure how to define this particular style of headdress. It's a fancy hair hat for all of us out there who either don't have much hair, or who don't want to spend 4 hours working on a hairstyle that you wear for one day. It's like a styled wig, but extra.

Anyway, so this hair hat was the product of my awkward love.hate relationship with the Star Wars prequel films, and my occasional yen for long hair (even though in reality it drives me crazy and usually looks awful).

In particular, this hat was inspired by Padme Amidala's senate costume from Episode II (and returned in the Clone Wars TV show as well), which includes a fantastic conical hairpiece.

On the Padawan's Guide site (as excellent reference guide to costumes in the Star Wars movies, as well as a fan guides to recreating those costumes), writers have pointed out the links between this headdress and some African styles, which is fascinating as well (many of Amidala's headdresses have direct links to styles from around the world, including Mongolia and China as well as the Congo).

Honestly, though, as interesting as the background of costumes in the Star Wars universe is,I really just made this because I woke up with a mad desire to make a hat out of fake hair. So, there you go.


Materials

6-7 hair headbands

          These things are horrifying, but they're only a dollar each (from Dollar Tree), which makes them some of the cheapest hair extensions I could find. I was going to start with a regular wig, but those are surprisingly expensive (I know, deep insights here) and not really necessary for this project. And yeah, it's really just a thin layer of plastic hair glued to a headband.

1 cardboard box
          Not even a good cardboard box, just a cereal box or something of that ilk.

1 conical party hat
          Those really stupid birthday hats, one of those forms the base of the hat

1 alligator clip chain- the one used here is 20 inches overall, with a 16 inch chain

          These are normally used to clip napkins around your neck at the dentist's office, or sometimes as lanyards, but they're actually perfect for providing an extra support for this headpiece. I think the length is negotiable for this project, but you want something that can wrap from your temples around the back of your head.

A strip of craft foam
          I used a white piece and painted it gold to match the rest of the decorations I put on the headpiece, but craft foam comes in pretty much every color of the rainbow.

Decorations
         For this step, I just went to the local thrift store and bought a handful of gold-tone chains and necklaces to decorate with.

The usual oddments: glue (superglue, Shoe Glue, something tough), scissors, etc.


Step 1) Prepare the hair

Part the first: take one of the headbands and section the hair into 6 pieces, evenly spaced along the band. Go ahead and braid these sections and secure the ends with rubber bands or a bit of glue.

Note: if you use the hair headband atrocities, you're going to have trouble keeping the hair unsnarled enough to braid. I swear these headbands are offerings to the god of rats, and their nests are persistent. I combed fabric softener through the hair which made it marginally easier to work with, but be prepared for a serious pain in the ass.

Part the second: repeat the first part on the rest of the headbands. Keep that first band separate with its braids intact, it'll be part of the base structure. For the others, once the braids are finished, you can go ahead and cut them free of their bands and secure these ends with rubber bands or glue as well.

Step2) Build the structure

Now comes the difficult bit, taking a couple pieces of trash-waiting-to-happen and making them fit onto your head.

First up, put the party hat on your head at the angle you want it to be. I angled it fairly far back, but the look is up to you. Then take the headband you set aside with the intact braids and set it like a crown around the top of your head, making sure that its low enough on your brow to cover the hairline on your forehead. Mark where the ends of the headband meet the party hat (you may way to trace the outline of the join so you can get the angle right after you take the pieces off your head and try to reassemble them). Take everything off yourself and try to replicate the angle you had, and glue the band ends to the party hat.

This shows the whole rickety internal structure. The band is formed first by the headband, then covered by the cardboard struts, and topped by the craft foam (which is mostly there to create a cushion for your head).

Try the whole thing on again and if it fits it's time to apply some straps. Using a tape measure, measure the length between the headband and the party hat in a couple places (I made three basic straps, as you can see above). Cut a couple straps off of your box and glue them in place to bridge the gap between the headband and party hat.

Take your piece of craft foam and use it to cover the headband and strap ends. Glue it down to provide a cushioning layer for your forehead.

Note: you may see a series of smaller tabs attached to the headband in the photo above, but those and the alligator chain were added after the rest of the braids.

Step 3) Assemble the hair

At this point, it's time to bring the braids into play. Starting with the braids that are still attached to the headband, spiral the hair up around the party hat. They don't all have to make it all the way to the tip, you can always add extra pieces later to cover up any bald spots. After that, it's just a matter of glueing the solo braids onto the headband between the existing braids and spiraling them as well. Try to make sure there are no gaps, but other than that it's up to you.

When you have the hair where you want it, it's time to add your additional supports. I did this by adding small cardboard tabs to secure the braids in their current order, and by attaching the alligator clip chain. To attach the chain, simply put the headpiece on, wrap the chain around your head, and attach the clips to the braids around your temple where the chain feels secure (you can always adjust it later).

You can see the alligator clip chain in this photo

Step 4) Add decorations

Have fun with it. For this version, I picked up a handful of gold-tone chains and necklaces and just went to town wrapping and dangling them on and around the piece. In addition, I picked up a pair of brass-y filigree medallions and a matching cuff from Michael's. The medallions worked to cover the alligator clips, and the cuff added some interest to the end of the cone.

But really, there are endless possibilities here in shape and color. In the end, this post isn't so much about how to make a specific movie prop (which it doesn't), but just an exploration of what you can do with a pile of relatively value-less crap and a dream.