Star Wars Cosplay: The Costume Awakens

I think Starbat and I have always been interested in putting together costumes for random things. But what cemented my interest in documenting and experimenting with costumes and cosplay was realizing there was already an army of geeks applying this to one of my favorite fictional universes. Although fans have been dressing up as Luke, Leia, Han, and Vader since the first film came out in 1977, costuming in the Star Wars fandom has definitely upped its game over the years. With the rising culture of cosplay and the internet connecting more and more fans, the activity has grown considerably in scale and cooperation. In an effort to learn more and hopefully join this kind of community, I researched Star Wars costuming organizations and began building my own costumes.


I'd say that the two current giants in Star Wars costuming organizations are the 501st Legion and Rebel Legion. These were established 1997 (the 501st) and 2001 (Rebel Legion), right around the reemergence of the Star Wars franchise as the prequels. They're essentially two sides of the same coin, with very similar methods and goals. The 501st Legion, also known as Vader's Fist, was created to put together costumes of Empire and "bad guy" characters like stormtroopers, bounty hunters, and Sith. And Rebel Legion collects the "heroes" like rebel pilots, senators, and Jedi. Both organizations are dedicated to the creation of movie-accurate costumes, inspiring continued interest in Star Wars, and to use their talents for volunteer and charity work. This last part is a good reason these groups seem to be the most active and cohesive worldwide. They support a wide variety of charity events, "trooping" to visit children in hospitals, libraries, and schools. 


But you have to admit, Saber Guild seriously kicks it up a notch. Representing both dark side and light side Force users, the international group combines costuming and performance to bring to life the thrill of lightsaber battles. Using original fight choreography, lighting/sound/set design, and lots of practice they develop duels for charity performances and conventions. They are fewer in number and their "temples" are spread out quite a bit, which is understandable given the time commitment needed to devise and drill routines. But it creates more of a barrier towards participation, compared to something like Rebel Legion. There are smaller unaffiliated groups that function as performance groups as well, but Saber Guild is among the few organization officially recognized by Lucasfilm.


There's also a considerable following among other costuming organizations, though these seem more focused on the costuming and less on charity work. The Jedi Assembly focuses on making screen-accurate Jedi costumes, with the dark side equivalent as The Dark Empire. But for my own attempt at creating Star Wars costumes I ultimately decided to use the standards of Rebel Legion as I 1)wanted to recreate light side characters and 2)wanted the possibility of using it for a well-organized charitable organization.

I had ambitions in making/being a Jedi, so ambitious or not that was going to be my first crack at Star Wars costuming. There are a lot of pieces involved in making it look realistic, so I used the Rebel Legion's costume standards for a "generic" Jedi to define certain projects for making certain pieces. Putting together the costume was a painstaking process, particularly if you approach it with beginner level skills. Fortunately Rebel Legion has an extensive set of tutorials written up by their forum members, advising on patterns, materials, and methods. Although I consider myself crafty, sewing has never been my wheelhouse and even with basic patterns it was kind of a bear. The tabards were fairly straightforward, but sewing the outer tunic was a nightmare. I constructed a belt, food capsules, pouches, and lightsaber prop hilt. And the rest of my build was more of a scavenger hunt, looking for just the right boots, belts, and pants to complete the costume. All the details on this I've already written up in Jedi Build #1.


Finally I needed to get the pictures for submitting the costume. After getting a lot of neat action shots, I took a ton of timed photos next to a blank wall to get the various angles and details. After way more vacillating than necessary I managed to submit my pictures to Rebel Legion's costume application page. Literally the next day the reviewers replied that they'd approved the costume as "formal", meaning that they meet the standards and could be used for trooping. Now for the next step, figuring out the options for trooping! Anyway, the journey continues in a galaxy far far away...


Photo Credits
Rebel Legion group shot. https://www.starwars.com/news/history-of-the-rebel-legion-part-1
Stormtrooper and kid. https://www.501st.com/
Lightsaber battle. Paikea Artworks. https://www.starwars.com/news/the-saber-guild-celebrating-costumes-charity-and-of-course-lightsabers

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