Poetry in Costume

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Costume meta and analysis from a galaxy far far away…

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If the Empire wants a fight, we’ll be ready for them. . . . #SyndullaSunday with a favourite shot by @aleestudios at #swco. . . . When will I have new content? Science doesn’t know! I took a much needed break this week after a wall of hand-ins and wrapping on a ridiculous job. Less a break and more an inevitable crash-out. My MES is still teetering on the edge of destruction, but I’m in a better state than I was. I haven’t made anything since April and I’ve somehow lost faith in myself and my work for a myriad reasons. Now: thesis time and formulating a game plan for the next few months.

Target locked for Chicago, see you rebels at #SWCC next year! . . . Who else is headed for Chicago? It’s so far away, I need to not starting planning yet! I’ve been wanting to go to Chicago ever since I saw While You Were Sleeping when I was tiny, so I can’t wait to explore the city (and stalk hospital rooms and transit stations, since I’ve been mainlining ER over the last few weeks...) in between all of the star war shenanigans!

#SenatorSaturday - a quick look at my Riyo Chuchi ‘Sphere of Influence’ WIP so far. . . . This was a project I was hoping to have done by now, but work and life got in the way. It’s also something I have been fussing over as I’ve been pushing myself with techniques that I had only sampled around ten years ago: tailoring. So. Much. Padstitching. I’ve made the jacket - from cut to lining - twice now. Fortunately industry habits mean I always buy an additional m of fabric to cover myself. I’m much happier with the second - the first just felt very unrefined and inherently sloppy - though after entirely finishing I decided to alter the neckline. It is now waiting for a new collar as marked in that last photo, and then the shoulder pads will be reinserted (hence the sad and droopy shoulders) and the lining and facing finished off. Again. . . . Pattern draped in calico with the rolled shoulder. Top fabric is a perfect wine crepe that can both create the sharp tailored lines of the jacket and the beautiful drape of the sleeve. The body of the jacket is underlined in cotton lawn, then interfaced with lightweight hair canvas. Domette to soften the front shoulder, and form the shoulder roll. None of the underlinings or interfacing are fusible: everything is padstitched. Lining is a shot acetate twill. The sleeves have puffs of netting to help support the gathers and drape. . . . I’m looking forward to finishing Riyo off, but it won’t be for quite some time due to work and MA priorities. Whenever it happens, though, I’ll be delighted to have made my first suit. (Twice.)

Everytime I see this amazing piece that my stupendously talented friend @lorna_ka did of me, I hear Elle Woods’ voice in my head going ‘ME!’ The most amazing gift that absolutely made my week. 💚 . . . #Repost @lorna_ka with @get_repost ・・・ Happy Birthday to my fav space general @poetryincostume! You continue to inspire 😌💚

New year, new roots. Same shit.

That forever brand. . . . Stories have the means to shape us, guide us, form us as we grow. So often we think of narratives influencing us when we’re children. That once we’re grown up we stop, are complete and that stories are just to entertain us. But at every step of our lives we are growing, and along the way we will always find some aspect of ourselves reflected in characters for good or bad; find ourselves guided by them; find their spark scattered in our everyday lives. Narratives are unending. Tomorrow I’m an old, and I’m still finding characters that I can evolve hand-in hand with as i live my story alongside theirs. Hera Syndulla was one of those characters, I am forever grateful to have discovered her, to find my twenty-something self reflected far too well in her, and to take her strengths and weave them with my own whilst acknowledging our shared weaknesses. Stories never stop having power.

Working those space princess vibes, courtesy of @elhofferdesign. I think that we all know that Leia had a heavy goth phase at some point.

V. excited that we finally have news about #starwarscelebration next year! I’ve always wanted to visit Chicago so I’m looking forward to seeing the sights as well as catching up with everyone in the GFFA. Flights and hotel are booked, all I need are the actual con passes! Who else is planning to go?

Rebellions are built on.... Disguise Hera . . . I made this costume fairly quickly so I didn't take that many progress pictures; I was aiming to get her done by the time TLJ came out. It was -5 when we took photos of the costume and I nearly died. THEN I had a Skype job interview about ten minutes later, where I tried really hard not to gesture and reveal that everything below my neck was green. . . . - the dramatic lighting of the episode made it incredibly hard to see anything at all, so when @tcann13 released the turnarounds it was full of surprises, including the pattern on Hera's tank top. I threw a repeating pattern together (diamonds of circles) and had it printed on a jersey. It has more of a sheen than I might like but it creates a contrast between the more natural fibres which, to me, feels quite Star Wars. - the trousers were modified from my Hero Hera flightsuit pattern with additional seams for the piping detail stretch denim in a burgundy brown with a taupey-grey dyed silk for the piping. The denim is also used to bind the tank top and for the choker. - the wrist comm is the same model as Ezra's, just modified. I threw it together out of various foamex weights whilst watching the episode and then didn't touch the costume again for a couple of weeks. - the shoes are an abomination and I am ashamed of Hera. I got some cheapo fake uggs from primani that I cut down and wrapped in dyed crepe bandages (Rey bandages). - I've talked about this cap before - my favourite. It was drafted from a hybridisation of my Hero Hera and Numa cap patterns. I fretted over the central panels quite bit, trying several variations that somehow looked more horrific than the last. As I was working on suede, that means all markings are permanent which is why the final central panels are that much to big: they're hiding all of the damages of my fuck-ups.

Rebellions are built on.... Phoenix Leader Hera. . . . I largely keep my WIP images to my stories; I'm never sure if they're of interest to people. But I thought it might be fun to throw together a few images. . . . - The flightsuit I drafted from scratch and made from a beautiful workwear cotton twill. It is fully lined in a golden yellow cotton - i always try to carry the character through to the lining, even if it will never be seen by anyone but me. Hera from bottom to top. It's a work of art, yo. - The gauntlet gloves are from a pattern I drafted for my Hero Hera with a gauntlet cuff. Made from lamb nappa. - The chestbox is foamex, the sock is foamex covered in dyed nylon. It is permanently integrated into the flightvest with webbing, and there are magnets embedded in the back to prevent it from swinging. - The helmet was made for me - resin cast, I think? The shape wasn't right, though, so I sliced the mandible in half to add an insert and built up the earpieces. I have since trimmed down the crown and repainted it (the dropped it and utterly smashed it and I can't face it.) - of course I already had a flightcap, but it was looking tired and worn and overstretched. The earpieces didn't align with the helmet and stuck out below looking ridiculous (and were generally a bit scrappy, really.) so it was the perfect excuse to make a new one. White lamb nappa underlined with calico and lined in golden yellow cotton.

#cosplayindetail - Hera Syndulla . . . My first cosplay, the light of my life. This costume was the first that i had made in four years, having moved towards the design side of production professionally. My sewing machine was also faulty when i made it meaning i had to hold a lose connection in place at all times; I basically had to make it one-handed. That issue and my lack of practice shows: it doesn't matter how trained you are, it takes time to get back into the swing of things. All of these photos are of the original iteration of the costume which I've been updating and improving bit by bit, piece by piece (it was really hard pulling pictures and not wincing). Hera is a deceptively complex lady, the simple lines of her silhouette belying the details, the complexity of achieving that silhouette and the basic fact that the costume is nonsensical and illogical for utilitarian dress. When you're translating animated characters, every line is crucial as you have to communicate so much with so little. And therein lies the fun.

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