Star Wars fans the world over have seen the classic Darth Vader costume up-close, but few have ever seen what lies beneath. In a new blog post, fans get a rare behind-the-scenes look at the iconic “Dark Side” outfit.
The blog post, titled “From Concept to Costume: The Creation of Darth Vader,” was written by Laela French, who worked in archives and collections at Lucasfilm before being hired as an archivist for the Walt Disney Archives. French also wrote a similar blog post about Darth Vader’s helmet.
“Many Star Wars fans have seen the classic Darth Vader costume up-close, but few know exactly how it was created,” French wrote. “In this new blog post, fans get a rare behind-the-scenes look at the iconic ‘Dark Side’ outfit.”
French recounted how designer John Mollo came up with the idea for Darth Vader’s costume after George Lucas asked him to design costumes for his upcoming film Star Wars. She also shared photos of sketches of the costume that were done by artist Ralph McQuarrie, who died in 2012.
“While many designs were considered, one stood out above all others: McQuarrie’s vision of Darth Vader,” French wrote.
Vader was the baddest, most evil villain in the galaxy and all he wanted for Christmas was a new suit.
This is the story of how I made his wish come true.
My name is Brian Muir and I am an English born sculptor and designer working in film and television as well as fine art and design.
In this blog I will detail the process that was undertaken to create Darth Vader’s costume from inception to completion. I hope you find it informative, interesting and fun! May The Force Be With You!
Since the moment I saw Star Wars as a kid, I have been fascinated by Darth Vader’s costume. It is probably the most recognizable and iconic costume in movie history. It is difficult to imagine that there was a time when no one had ever seen or heard of Darth Vader. However, once he appeared on screen his image was forever burned into the minds of everyone who saw him.
The question is, how was such an iconic costume made? I didn’t think much about it until my friend took his son to see the new Star Wars movie last year and he returned with a Darth Vader costume that was not very well made. I thought how this could be improved upon and decided to make one myself. This is my story of how I made my own Darth Vader costume from scratch and what it took to get it just right!
The first thing I did was decide on a design for my costume. I decided to go with a simple black suit with white stripes down the sides, but also wanted something that would stand out from other costumes so chose not to use any red at all except for the belt buckle which is actually black with silver accents instead.
I then started looking at different fabrics that might work well together in order to achieve my desired look. After some trial
My name is Lorne Peterson and I’ve been an Industrial Light & Magic model maker since the beginning. I’m currently a Senior Model Maker, but I started out as just a regular model maker.
I was working in the Model Shop on Star Wars when George Lucas came over to me and asked if I could make a Darth Vader costume. It was one of those moments that you never forget in your entire career. At the time, I didn’t know who George Lucas was or anything about Star Wars. But he asked me to make it, so that’s what I did.
I’d never made a human costume before, so it was a great challenge for me. I went to the library and found some books on suits of armor from the 15th century, which is really where the design came from. Once I had an idea of how to start it, I began constructing it out of fiberglass for the helmet and shoulder pads and chest plate and plastic for the codpiece and belt buckle, all held together with straps. And then at the end we added a cape because George thought it would be nice to have one.
It wasn’t until we saw David Prowse walking around in it that we realized how imposing Darth Vader would be on screen. The
The initial design for Darth Vader was outlined by George Lucas in the first script for Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. He envisioned a tall, imposing figure dressed in black with a breathing apparatus. Ralph McQuarrie’s concept art of Darth Vader offered more details, such as the ribbed breastplate and gauntlets. Other than that, the character was left to the imagination of costume designer John Mollo.
During a production meeting, George Lucas asked Mollo to design a costume based on “a combination of samurai armor and Nazi uniforms.” It had to be sinister and threatening, yet lightweight enough to allow freedom of movement during fight scenes.
Mollo started with a leather helmet that covered the neck and face like a motorcycle helmet. After some trial and error he decided it worked best when painted flat black instead of glossy black. The hose attached to the helmet was also made from leather and was held on with leather straps. The iconic mask covered only the nose and mouth, allowing David Prowse (the actor inside the suit) to breathe while they filmed in Death Valley during July 1976.
The chest piece was constructed out of an old motorcycle brake light housing along with pieces of rubber boat bumpers, which gave it its signature ribbed look. The chest
In the original version of Star Wars, Darth Vader’s helmet was a re-tooled World War II fighter pilot mask, with a motorcycle breathing apparatus attached. As such, it didn’t have to be worn by a person at all, but could be just an object that we saw as part of the set. It was only when Lucas decided to make Vader into Luke’s father in The Empire Strikes Back that he had to become a character in his own right.
Though he’d been unplanned, Darth Vader turned out to be popular enough that he needed his own costume. But there was still no reason to show him out of his helmet. In fact, it would have been hard to figure out how to make a costume for him: since the suit had been designed as a shell for someone else’s body, it wouldn’t fit anything like a regular human underneath. It was only when James Earl Jones’s voice came into the picture that they needed something for him to wear under his helmet. Consequently, the actual costume is extremely weird:
When you see Darth Vader on screen, you’re not really seeing him at all– you’re seeing Hayden Christensen in an all-black body sock with no features at all. But there are some shots in Revenge of the Sith where
So, it was a bit of a challenge but, we got to work on the costume. We had to keep it simple since he is a little guy and we didn’t have many resources. We decided to go with the original trilogy style and make him an Imperial Officer. After purchasing the material, making templates and cutting out all the pieces; we were ready to start assembling some parts of the costume. We purchased a really cool padded looking vest which we used as the base for his chest piece, and then made additional armor that would fit over it. We also made his belt, gloves and boot covers which gave the costume some additional detail.
We still had not figured out what we were going to use for the helmet, but other than that we were almost done. Then, by chance I was sitting at my computer reading up on some Star Wars news (which I do on a fairly regular basis) when I came across a link to a site called Punished Props . This site had some awesome DIY foam armor projects and helmets that people had made for cosplay costumes. One in particular caught my eye because it looked just like what I wanted to make for my son’s costume! It was Anakin’s Episode II helmet from Attack of The Clones . It was