Step 6 – Try Not (Do it!)

By now you’ve picked a persona, done your research, and started putting together a basic ‘kit’. It’s finally time to get out there! If you want a taste of a scene, grab your gear and reenact it!

It continues to astound me when I see online cosplayers/costumers show off their new duds, which remain pressed and spotlessly clean in perpetuity! If you’re going to go through the effort of putting together, say, a screen-accurate Obi-Wan Kenobi Padawan outfit (as seen in The Phantom Menace), you should probably also go through the effort of wading into a freshwater lake and doing at least a few breast-strokes.
Don’t be afraid of scuffing your boots or getting your clothes dirty. One of the things that originally set Star Wars apart from other sci-fi settings was the fact that it was a used universe—clothes, gear, and starships etc. are rusty, dusty, dented, dinged, scratched, patched, and generally show signs of wear!

For example, when I wanted to get a taste of life in the Jedi Agricultural Corps, I wore my Jedi tunics while weeding the garden for a few hours. I sweated like a pig and my clothes got FILTHY!, but it’s honest grime, and will add to an eventual patina that will be more authentic-looking than any artificial aging could ever be!

I might not be able to repair a starship, but I can (and do!) wear my Rebel Alliance-type flightsuit while giving my car a tune-up, with the result that the high-use areas get greasy, oily, and generally worn, but it’s the same kind of wear that we would expect to see a hangar technician have on their outfit. Nothing can ever beat artificial weathering like authentic wear patterns.

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