It may be taken for granted by stormtroopers for lots of reasons, but you can’t deny that they have the easiest time getting ready for work in the morning. Just look at the perfectly laid out uniforms in the photo above. Wired will be sharing further pictures from the set in their special edition Star Wars issue this December, but decided to share a few peaks into the inner world of the movie’s production, with a feature on the updated design of the classic stormtrooper costume.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens costume designer Michael Kaplan talked about the challenge of bringing the classic costume from the 1970s into the twenty-first century and designing for the franchise’s new villain, Kylo Ren, and Gwendoline Christie‘s First Order warrior Captain Phasma. Most interesting, in my opinion, was the missive from director Abrams that Kylo Ren’s mask should not deter young fans of the movies from seeing it. He worked hard to draw inspiration from the original Darth Vader costume so that fans could imagine that Ren’s character was in a continuing universe from the original films.
For the stormtroopers themselves, Kaplan admitted that he looked towards the design Goliath that many of us hoist around in our pockets and backpacks: “With time, I think, simplification occurs. Because the stormtroopers are hard and white and plasticky, my thoughts did go to Apple.”
The new designs include cleaner lines without the bulges we saw in the 80s, and a floating faceplate that clearly evokes the archetypal design, while also indicating that the times and the technology have changed. Even the materials were updated. The original costumes were vacuum-formed and made of a thicker, possibly more brittle plastic. The 1,500 new costumes are constructed from a thinner plastic that is heated and molded and cast in polyurethane, making them much harder.
From the first moment the music played in new trailers and I saw those stormtroopers take the screen, I’ve been dying for December 17 to get here faster. These further details just make me want it more! Tell us what you think of the new designs in the comments below.
HT & Images WiredUK
