The chosen one

Last fall I had been working like a dog. Won’t go into detail but some special projects at work had me working 6-7 days a week. At some point my body and brain detached and reasoned each of its own accord. My brain decided that it might be a good idea to do 2 costumes for Halloween instead of one. I like doing costumes that are current to the year for Halloween, if I can. So I decided I would try and do an Anakin Skywalker costume from Episode III. I had the shaggy hair at the time and I really lied the glove and the boots. Most of the research had already been done by a few people on the Jedi Council forums. This costume pretty much came down to just buying the stuff.

Not really thinking about the amount of money I would be spending or that I am not lanky enough to pull off a good Anakin, I decided to do it anyway.

The costume breaks down as follows:

- Dark brown inner tunic
- Dark brown outer tunic make of a waffle weave fabric
- Dark brown tabbards, ending at the waist in back, made of the outer tunic fabric
- Dark brown obi belt, made of the outer tunic fabric
- Dark brown 4 piece leather tabbards, extending in both front and back
- Dark brown jedi belt with chrome buckle and smaller inner belt
- Jedi food capsules made from Steadtler pen caps
- Dark brown tall leather pouch
- Brown resin pouches
- Covertec clip
- Lightsaber based off a Graflex flash gun
- Dark brown tall leather boots with spats held with 3 straps
- Dark brown wool robe
- Dark brown leather gauntlet with 3 buckles

I had most of the pieces from various sources I was put in contact with via The Jedi Council forums. I made the belt myself to a good deal of success; my first try at dying leather. The robe came from and old source: Andrea of Twin Roses Designs. The tunics from the illustrious Sheri of captaincarter.com. The boots from Jim of Motorcowboy. I carried both a Master Replicas Anakin Force FX lightsaber and a converted Graflex flashgun. The same flashguns used to make Luke’s sabers in Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back. I got the pouches from a contact of Justin Monk (Primrodo) of the JC forums. The food capsules, buckle, and belt hardware from Diego in Argentina. I made the leather tabbards from a very nice pleather material in a 4 piece pattern to keep the bottoms hanging straight without waist creases. They were prototyped and cut out by me and sewn together by my friend Veronica. The glove came from DavidYR1 of Universal Designs; a contact from the RPF.

I was worried Sheri may not get back to me in time and I bought another tunic set off eBay. Sheir did contatc me and came through with some wonderful tunics ahead of schedule. The eBay seller sent me the tunics overnight so I received them on Halloween. They didn’t fit and seemed to be made of a crinkle cotton that had never been pre-washed. I have even had a friend who is 6′3″ 250 lbs try them and they don’t fit him. I tried selling them later on but couldn’t honestly tell anyone that they could be altered or salvaged. Eventually I tossed them out. A victim of ignorance and haste.

The costume came together well. Though I only wore it a few times. Eventually I decided to part ways with Anakin. The costume was sold off in pieces over the winter and spring. The last piece I have, the Graflex saber handle, is going on eBay soon. I was actually supposed to meet up with Dan, the kid that bought my tunics, at Comicon this year. But the crowds and the wait for tickets kept us apart.

Anakin would only serve as a reminder to not be so ambitious with my money and time.

The puzzle pieces

Possibly because the movie starts off in a freaking ice cave, John Mollo (the costume designer of the original trilogy) saw fit to give Han a blue waist length jacket in Empire instead of his trademark vest from Star Wars. I have always been a fan of waist length, Eisenhower type jackets so I always gravitated towards this look. It doesn’t hurt that Empire is my favorite movie and Han’s character really came into his own during this episode.

From my research the outfit from Empire lays out as follows:

- Brown calavry-based pants with yellow horizontal stripes down the side
- White cotton long sleeve shirt with front bib closure
- Dark blue waist length jacket with various pockets
- Black leather 3 holed belt with 2 prong buckle
- Brown leather quick draw holster
- DL-44 heavy blaster pistol made from a WWII German Mauser
- Belt tool kit
- Droid caller made from a Kobold flash gun
- Knee high black jack or riding boots

My first find came from a man named Vince Carter. He is an old school Han costumer who operates a side business called Corellian Exports. He sells Han costume parts based off his designs and patterns as well as resin copies of the belt tools and droid callers from all 3 movies. I ordered his ESB toolkit, droid caller, and shirt.

From an information exchange on The Jedi Council forums with a very nice woman named Kay-dee, I was able to track down an army surplus belt that worked once one prong was removed from the buckle and was turned in the direction of another woman named Dawn Anderson. Dawn makes a pattern called The Falcon Jacket. It is a damn near perfect replica of Han’s jacket from Empire. Lucky for me, she also sells ready-to-wear versions that are 100% finished. They are professionally manufactured and com complete with interior pockets and satin lining. I ordered one without hesitation.

The blaster was ordered from a site called Blast-tech. The operator sells various parts for saber replicas and blaster kits. I was not foolish enough to think I had the skills for such an endevor and ordered a pre-made ESB blaster. The kit features the added scope, muzzle, and greeblies and is based on a Denix Mauser replica.

For the pants I went a cheaper route. I found a website called J Kerezman costumes that sells pre-embroidered bloodstripe patches that need only be stitched to the sides of pants. I ordered a ESB set, yellow on brown, and started scouring thrift stores for brown 70’s slacks. Arriving at decent pair for some hefty sum of 2 doillars or something, I took them in for altering. I had the bell bottoms removed and the stripes attached.

This left me with probably the 2 hardest parts of the costume: the boots and the holster.

At the time I knew of a guy in Texas named Matt Poitras making the holsters but he had moved in the interim year between when i found him and when I started the project and had said he was done with making Star Wars stuff and was attempting to get work in the motion picture industry. I was out of luck for the holster and had considered trying to make my own with my all too feeble leather skills. One day I randomly checked Matt’s site and saw that he was once again taking orders for Halloween. I quickly emailed him and got my order in.

The boots were a conundrum. The boots used in the movies were German Officer jack boots most likely from WWII. They are shiny black riding boots that come up to the knee and are straight across the top. Most Imperial officers wore them as well as Han and Luke in ROTJ. I could find replicas, custom made, that went for upwards of 300-400 dollars. I could find standard riding boots with the higher outside top edge. But nothing cheap with a straight top. At least nothing tall enough to reach my knee. I eventually settled on a risky plan. I bought a pair of medium quality equestrian boots and decided to cut the top straight myself at home. Luckily it worked out fine and I still use these boots to this day.

After painting the droid caller and tools, the costume was ready for its debut on Halloween.

There would be a few snags.

The blue jacket

I started researching Han Solo costumes online over the summer of 2005. The internet’s base of information had taken quite a leap since 1998 and I was flooded with sites to read. Perusing through such places as the aforementioned Jedi Academy, The Replica Props Forum, and The Jedi Council Forums I found other people online with this same passion who had catalogued and studied and built and sewn and were willing to share all this with me for free.

My mind began to fill with new terms: Mauser, bloodstripes, DL-44, Kobold, Graflex, Sterling, E-11, MPP, vac-forming, resin casting, weathering, found parts, greeblies, etc.

I realized a couple of things. This project was beyond my skills and would cost me a pretty penny. Not sure yet if I wanted to dive in this far financially, I bookmarked pages and began to think it through.

When my raise came through just in time to start working for Halloween 2005, I decided enough was enough. I would plunge headfirst. The dilema before me now was which costume to recreate? I had recently learned that Han, in fact, wore 3 different costumes in the 3 movies. I was aware of changes in the past but never to this extent. I never noticed that his pants changed to brown in Empire Strikes Back. Or that his blaster was different. I had a tough decision to make. Besides similarities between the Empire costume and Return of the Jedi’s, there was no way to do a generic Han. One look had to be nailed down.

I made the only choice I could ever make. I went for the one detail I had always thought was the coolest:

The blue jacket.

The beginning of the end

I’m not exactly sure when it was that I fell in love with Star Wars. As far as my albeit feeble human memory serves it has been my whole life. I know, from gathered stories told to me by my father, that I had a stuffed Ewok as my favorite toy when I was 5 and flew to Florida to go to DisneyWorld. That would place the date sometime in 1984. A mere year after Return of the Jedi hit theaters.

I do know I have loved the movies most of my life. I remember watching them on my parent’s Beta VCR, taped from a friend’s HBO, and swinging a yellow magic marker in my hands like a lightsaber. This shows us 3 things: that, decieved by the color of the toy Luke’s “arm saber,” I thought his lightsaber was yellow and was too young to differentiate, that I was apparently young enough that a magic marker was large enough to simulate a saber handle, and, most importantly, as a small child I wanted to be Luke Skywalker.

Every kid did. C’mon, before you are old enough to figure anything else out, you see a guy who destroys the Death Star, moves things around with his mind, and seemingly destroys an Empire by himself. I don’t know what kid wouldn’t want to be Luke. As icing on the cake he gets to use a lightsaber. Still an object of fantasy and fascination even to my “old” 27 year old self.

As I grew older and girls entered into my scope of consciousness, I begun to realize the power behind being a scoundrel. There’s a mystery there that is very attractive; the loner seemingly beholden to none who eventually decides to fight for the side of good and win the princess. Not to mention he gets to wear a low slung holster, make wisecracks, and fly the most kickass ship in the galaxy. From then on I wanted to be only one person from the Star Wars Universe.

Captain Han Solo.

It was a fascination that would last me through college. I’ll admit I was slightly sidetracked in 1997 when I heard George Lucas planned to do prequels; finally telling us of the rise of Darth Vader and the birth of the twins. Movies, no doubt, mired in Jedi sorcery and lacking in smugglers. When The Phantom Menace opening in 1999 I couldn’t help but taken in. Do you remember seeing Obi Wan v. Darth Maul sword fight for the first time? I have been told I giggled like a little kid throughout. But once the flash of the Nick Gillard choreographed sword play faded, my mind was always drawn back to the man in the striped pants. Never failed.

I had always wanted to make a Han Solo costume. My dad had instilled in me a love for home made Halloween costumes. I could never buy some cheap plastic thing at a store when I could make something at home using all means of duct tape and Shoe Goo. My problem was not the motive; it lay squarely in the means.

This was the time before the pervayance of the internet. The heady days before DVDs. Old school Star Wars costumers scoff at us young people and our ease of research. While they poured through old cinema and sci-fi magazines for screen shots, we kids just log onto Parts of Star Wars, Obi Wan’s Jedi Academy, or The Padawan’s Guide for free and download images from the tubes of the interweb to our heart’s content.

I have that luxury now. But the late 90’s, when I first thought of the idea of donning the Vest, was a bit different. I still had a dial up 56k baud modem. I watched the Original Trilogy on Special Edition VHS tapes. I had none of the resources at my disposal I do now.

I contented myself to make a rough and tumble Darth Maul costume for Halloween of 1999. Based solely off the many promo shots available of everyone’s favorite Sith Lord. The prequel had given a lot of costumers new abilities due to well lit, well shot promotional material blitzed across the globe for the opening of Episode I.

I stagnated in the pauperism of college and post-college; lacking the funds to finance a costume of my liking. Eventually, Lord of the Rings dominated my life for a while. I took a liking in Strider as he is very similar in initial features to one beloved Correllian pirate. I made a rather fine Aragorn costume in 2003. It rekindled my love of costume making. When I was promoted at Nickelodeon in 2004, receiving a sum closer to a Los Angeles living wage and finally given the funds to attempt an accurate costume.

I decided to finally bring Han into my closet for good.