When I first started toying with the idea of portraying a Rebel ‘partisan’, I knew I wanted to integrate elements of the local planetary fashion, but also include enough elements of the larger galactic style so that the impression would still be recognizably Star Wars.
Finding the right ratio between the two would be the real trick, since a) Naboo’s nobles in the late Republic period tended to dress in an impractical, distinct Renaissance style, b) we don’t really know what Naboo fashion was like during the Imperial period, and as I’ve written before, it’s hard to be taken seriously as a guerilla fighter when you’re dressed like Catherine de Medici. If I wanted to pull this off, I was going to have to do some detective work.
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Tag: clothing
Hindsight strikes again!
While I’m settling into my choice to refocus my Rebel ‘partisan’ persona on Naboo, this really just means a change of backstory and some items of clothing. I figure I can still use the Sulon-based impression for more in-depth opportunities, such as events with more adults (haven’t seen a lot of those yet, but ‘if you build it they will come’), who can grasp the concept that there are more planets out there than just what’s been seen onscreen.
Looking back in my notes, I was tickled to see that just like I did in deciding on my first Middle-earth persona, I actually briefly considered—and then talked myself out of—basing this persona on Naboo!:
“I’m from (and most likely to operate in) a temperate, deciduous biome, so I knew I wouldn’t be picking a desert or ice planet, but unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of planets in the GFFA that resemble eastern North America! The only deciduous-biome planet from the six films is Naboo, and we just don’t have enough details on it after about 19BBY for my confidence.”
For future reference: any time you think there are not enough details about a subject, this is just an opportunity to do some research! And boy, have I found some interesting tidbits since I started digging!
In Good Company
At the same time as I was struggling with my Naboo-rebranding dilemma, I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of copies of the 20th Anniversary Editions of James Gurney’s Dinotopia books. (Yes, I know these editions came out like, six or seven years ago…suffice to say that I’m thrifty, a laggard in more than just technology, and always wary of reissues with extra features…I tend to wait until I’m sure that the new edition will be worth it, find the best possible (usually secondhand) price, and then gift the old edition to a niece or nephew).
It was a particularly ironic bit of serendipity, since, as I touched on earlier, Naboo’s capitol Theed was maybe/maybe not influenced by Dinotopia’s Waterfall City.
Imagine my surprise then, when I began reading the added Foreword to the second volume, The World Beneath, and came across the following passage:
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Image Analysis: Ruusan lookout
“The statue that had occupied the platform off to his left had fallen hundreds of years before. The remains of it were scattered down the forward slope and pointed toward a skillfully sculpted hand. The palm was blackened where signal fires hand burned, beckoning travelers from many kilometers away. It must have been something to see.” Star Wars: Jedi Knight (William C. Dietz) 1998.
I’ve always liked this piece from the Jedi Knight novella. Actually, Dave Dorman’s photo-realistic paintings have always been very influential in terms of how I imagine the GFFA. This vignette just happens to be one of the few EU depictions of an isolated cell of commoners on the run from Imperial forces – and so is very useful for my purposes.
Here we see a familiar mishmash of gear that is very inspirational for those of us who portray fringe-y Rebel personas:
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Location, location, location!
I was re-watching Episode I on its 19th anniversary the other day, and I happened to notice something. Do you see it?
That’s right, Naboo has Beech trees! I did some digging, and as it turns out a lot of the outdoor Naboo scenes were filmed in England right outside of Leavesden Studios. And it got me to thinking…
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Event debrief: May the Fourth 2018
Location: local indoor Astroturf park
- This gives a pretty good sense of the event.
Event type: ‘Star Wars Day’: kids activities, Chewbacca contest, costume contests, dodgeball, lightsaber ‘academy’; etc.
Although the event wasn’t really a good fit, if I had thought ahead of time, I could have reserved a table and laid out a display of survival gear. Ah, hindsight!
A few local organizations that did have tables:
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Event Debrief: 17 March 2018
As a borderline hermit, meeting and conversing with celebrities isn’t something I have a lot of experience with. So when I learned that the prodigal Dr. David West Reynolds was going to be returning to his hometown library for a screening of his film-archeology documentary “Journey to Tatouine’ and that the event was being advertised as ‘Star Wars Day’, I knew I was going to have to make an appearance.
This would be my second ‘Stars Wars at the library’ event, and since the first, I’ve had several other events with the public to help me focus and refine my approach. This time, I knew what to expect and was somewhat prepared with a rudimentary engagement hook—a thick stack of facsimiles of the Declaration of Rebellion to distribute.
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Image Analysis: Clone Wars Playtime
One feature I’ve been wanting to implement here is a series in which I take a close look at individual images, something along the lines of Townsend’s Sifting the Past blog. And here, I think, is the perfect example to start with!
This picture comes from Wizards of the Coast’s Galactic Campaign Guide (2003), p. 113. The book is a great source for our purposes, as it includes (among many other juicy details) an excellent section on species-specific naming conventions, and many similar world-building vignette scenes.
Looking at this image with an anthropologist’s discerning eye, several details leap out at me.
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Crafting the Coldweather Hat
After acquiring a Swedish winter cap for $10, I had originally planned to do just a few simple modifications—removing the superfluous rear buckle, replacing the fake fur of the flaps with wool, and then giving it a dunk in some brown RIT dye.
However, the more I looked at the Pfilbee Jhorn pictures, the more I felt that simply relying on the similar shapes of his hat and the Swedish one wouldn’t be enough to make this an authentic piece.
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Searching for winter headwear in the Galaxy
Hats of any type are comparatively rare in most Star Wars sources (especially when it comes to main characters), and hats for cold-weather scenarios are doubly rare. Since the main films only depict one cold-weather setting (Hoth in Episode V), we have an extremely limited pool from which to draw inspiration for cold-weather gear. As a result, most depictions tend to use variations on the Episode V ensembles, such as an obscure ‘cold weather gear’ Obi-Wan action figure based on Han Solo’s parka, or the Jedi Academy PC game, which outfits Jaden Korr for his mission to Hoth in the uniform of an Echo Base technician.
However, having proper GFFA cold-weather items is necessary if, like me, you don’t want to be limited to three-season excursions.
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Living History in the Star Wars Galaxy 