John Mollo, Oscar-Winning 'Star Wars' Costume Designer, Dies At 86

schwit1 quotes the Hollywood Reporter: John Mollo, the costume designer who brought to life Ralph McQuarrie and George Lucas' conceptual vision for Star Wars, has died. He was 86... "We discussed a few concepts when I joined the team, and George Lucas had a clear vision of what he was looking for. He liked the idea of the baddies having a fascist look about them, with the heroes reflecting the look of heroes of the American Wild West," he told www.starwarshelmets.com.

With McQuarrie's sketches and a meager budget of $1,173 for one costume, the London-born Mollo began shaping and fine-tuning Darth Vader's image through his knowledge of World War 1 trench armour and Nazi helmets, ultimately creating the look of one cinema's most memorable villains. His military influence is also visible in the regalia worn by the crew of the Death Star.
Working on Ridley Scott's Alien, " Molloâ(TM)s focus was to create used and well-worn clothing for the crew of the Nostromo on their long return trip to Earth as well as designing the patches and emblems emblazoned across their suits."

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[hey!]

The notion that Lucas turned to a historical uniform expert for his costume and ended up with his bad guys in Stallhelms and Kriegsmarine tropical caps doesn't sound so ridiculous to me.

Of course you have to go back to 1977; Nazis weren't a serious contemporary political issue back then. They'd been irrelevant long enough to be a joke; just the thing if you wanted a campy villain.

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[Psion]

There's a lot of work moving from a sketch to a real, finished costume. The sketch says almost nothing about the materials used, how they're cut and assembled, how they fit the actor, or how they're made to move.

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[sandbagger]

>First off, those sketches were basically Vader fully-fleshed out. There was little imagination needed beyond those sketches.
Your personal incredulity says a lot, but not in the way you think.

The props and costumes had to be made and the paintings were different each time. Once they needed to go from pigment into the real world choices had to be made.

For example how threadbare should the farmers clothes be, what combination of new and worn should the stormtroopers' costumes be, fabric and materials choic

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[Psion]

Dr. Smith brought wit and humor to the show, you bumbling, bubble-headed BOOBY!