Darth Vader Costume

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...."

On the eve of the premiere of Star Wars Episode VII in the Russian branch  of The Walt Disney Company  was delivered the container with an artifact within. As it turned out, it contained one of the costumes from the filming of the "classic" episodes.

The suit endured not well such long "intergalactic flight," and he needed restoration of some elements. Considering the short period of time, find the right skin for restoration would be almost impossible, so it was decided to recreate the leather costume details "from scratch". So when they turned for sewing overalls and gloves in our workshop, we are happy to take up this project.

When creating a replica, you first need to carefully examine the reference and discuss the technical task. As for the filming of the saga the suit of Darth Vader  has undergone several changes, we had to understand exactly of what the episode our version must conform. As a result, a sample was taken from the costume IV episode, but because it would be used on a mannequin, the customer decided to replace three-piece construction to the one-piece jumpsuit.

After approval of the concept, we took up the search for materials. We needed to find a sufficiently dense fabric for the base, bulking and the leather, which would be the closest to the original. The choice fell on a dense fabric of cotton, holloterm 200 g / m2 and Italian leather cattle thickness of 0.7-0.8 mm.

Mannequin, which planned to use the suit, brought to us in the studio, and this greatly accelerated the process of design patterns and then of sewing. The longest stage of this project, perhaps, was the quilting as it has certain requirements - the distance between the seams should be exactly 1 inch, but we coped with it.

In addition, the suit required the restoration of plastic, and tailoring cloak and robes. This work has taken the workshop R2D2 Workshop. Thanks to our joint efforts, the project was delivered on time!

Our workshop expresses gratitude to leather shop "Golden Calf" and personally to Fay Odobescu for operational assistance in the selection of leather for the project.

Special thanks to the photographer - ANDREW HITC.

We must not forget that without the help and expertise of the Legionaries of 501st Legion and the 501st Legion Russian Public group we could not achieve the desired results and the accuracy of the work.

And may the Force be with you ...

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