Diamonds in the Rough – Mandalorian foundling

Welcome back to our monthly spotlight series, where we discuss Star Wars costumers who have ‘gone the distance’ and put in the effort to create solid, in-universe outfits or personas. This month’s entry is actually a bit of a carry-over from last month, because while building his own Mandalorian ‘Kryos’ kit, T.H. also created a simple but highly-effective outfit for his own youngling at home:

Part of what makes this outfit so authentic is how simple it is: you can count the individual elements on two hands and still have a few fingers left over.
From top to bottom, we’ve got a helmet, undershirt, peasant-style tunic (literally an old karate gi dyed an appropriate color), belt (with pouch and knife), shoulder strap, pants, puttees, and boots. That’s it! (Note that everything appears to be appropriate, authentic materials as well: woven, solid-color, natural fibers for the tunic and legwraps, and real leather for the belts, pouch, and boots.)
This agrees with our earlier Style Guide look at children’s clothing, which showed that younglings still tend to wear very basic outfits, since—just as in our world!—children in the GFFA grow up quickly, so it makes little sense to outfit a child in a miniature suit of armor every year or two.

(While I haven’t seen it yet, I’ve heard that the latest season of The Mandalorian introduces the idea of wide-visored helmets as ‘foundling’-specific headwear. This choice has two effects: 1) this makes it easier for kiddos to accurately participate in costumed activities (just grab a Hasbro Boba helmet, fill the dent, and repaint—perhaps exactly what was done for the show??), but also 2) it gives adult costumers zero excuse for continuing to use said childrens’ helmets!

Every reenacting kit is better with accessories, and while a youngling this small doesn’t have much use for full-sized blasters (yet) or a bandoleer of large pouches, when an outfit doesn’t have pockets, the belt kit fills the role. A child’s ‘EDC’ needs are much less than an adult’s, so a small pouch is enough to hold a snack and a few credits, while a culturally-Mandalorian kal dagger is a good stand-in for the boy’s traditional pocket knife. While the blade itself may be 3d printed resin, the use of thoughtful weathering, hand stitching, and actual leather contributes to the overall feeling of authenticity.

This month’s take-home lesson is easy: if the various elements of your outfit are authentic and follow the setting’s guidelines, it’s a lot easier for the overall outfit to feel cohesively authentic as well. The slippery slope comes when you don’t lay the groundwork with basic research, start trying to sprinkle in too many personalizations, or play the “Hey, it’s a big galaxy!” card.

Is there anything I overlooked? Leave a comment below, or come discuss with us at the Star Wars Living History facebook community. I’m always on the lookout for future interviewees, so if you know a high-quality costumer you would like to nominate for this series, please get in touch!

(Special thanks to this month’s supporters P.D., R.F., M.A., and A.L.! Writing this site takes a lot of time and energy. If you’ve enjoyed reading, have learned something from this post, or will use it as inspiration for your own outfit, please consider supporting my work via ko-fi, or with a small donation below! Thank you!