The costume vault

In the first article of this series, we talked about Rey's design for Episode VII and how it successfully reflected the character, the situation she was in and the universe it represented. And today we are going to look at how they achieved that with Finn's character.

FINN: THE STORMTROOPER

Finn is a Stormtrooper who deserts the First Order after his first military assault, and he is probably the character that gets the highest number of costume changes (a whooping number of two) only matched by Poe Dameron (who also gets two costume changes).
Being a Stormtrooper, he starts the movie dressed in the iconic Stormtrooper armor.

The design doesn't stray too much from the classic Stormtrooper design of the original trilogy, and while some people might have problems with that, I don't.

And the changes they've done are really logical ones; the suit seems more robust, less flimsy, and the lines are softer, smoother and more aerodynamic. Which is normal considering that it…

The last design from Episode II which we are going to be covering is the wedding gown, which happens to be the literal last outfit worn by the character in the movie.

She wears this dress in the final scene of Episode II, during her wedding with Anakin. It's a brief scene, but somehow people really remember this gown.
The design consists of an intricate gown made of lace and beads that goes with a lace veil. The gown is long and flowing, and has a small tail. The white fabric is decorated with an off-white delicate embroidery. The sleeves reach her elbows and are hemmed with scalloped lace. The entire gown is studded with pearls.

This gown takes from various historical sources, most of them pertaining to the early 20th century. The basic one with which it work are Edwardian fashion (1901-1911) and the 1920's.
The basic structure, with the gown and the laced overdress, is clearly taken from late Edwardian fashion.

These dresses (dated 1912) are quite similar to Padme's gow…

Too often we, as viewers, tend to forget the symbolic and iconic value of color and how it can create ideas only by being there. This is very relevant in paintings, but also, on film; through the set design, the cinematography and, of course, the costume design.
The 1994's French adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' novel is a movie that uses that at it's fullest potential, creating a stunningly beautiful (and very well orchestrated) spectacle of death. The movie, directed by Patrice Chéreau, is a tale of intrigue, murder and gore that centers around death itself, and so, the heavy crimsons of blood are a constant presence in the frame; from the sets, to the props, to the beautiful brocaded gowns.

And it is color that takes central stage in the designs in order to clearly separate the two opposing factions in the narrative: catholics and protestants.
CATHOLICS

The movie starts with a country divided into two factions that will eventually collide to horrifying consequences. These…