Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

Costume Design by:

- Trisha Biggar ( notable efforts: The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders (1996), Da Vinci's Demons (2014 - 2015), Emerald City (2017) )

Note: Most of the costumes for this film, as well as the follow-ups Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, were based on costume sketches by concept artist Ian McCaig (as well as others, such as Doug Chiang), with Biggar's duties more or less realizing them on the screen rather than designing proper.

Costume Design Genre: futuristic

The infamously loathed scifi trilogy that people still get furious about. Everything that can be said about these films has been said already, though out of them all I feel The Phantom Menace is the least offensive, being just kiddyish rather than 'tragic' and at the least is a fairly nice-looking movie utilizing a lot of practical sets and props.

One highlight that all the prequels have is their rather striking costume designs, which were realized by Trisha Biggar albeit based on costume sketches by Iain McCaig (and other production artists such as Doug Chiang, who was the 'design director' of the first two prequel films). This wasn't new for a Lucas production, considering the costumes in the original trilogy were mostly based on production artwork by Ralph McQuarrie and for these films 'did not want the costumes to be noticed' hence the hiring of a military historian, John Mollo, rather than a veteran costume designer, to realize McQuarrie's designs to the screen - I suspect there was something similar on Return of the Jedi, hence why that film had dual costume designer credits shared between Aggie Rodgers and Nilo Rodis-Jamero. It is funny to see how Lucas had totally changed his tune on costume design by the time the prequels arrived (probably to spite all the competition) because he went all out on the costume budget, with even characters we barely see on screen having detailed costumes made. If you want to see more images of these various costumes, I could recommend going on 'The Padawan's Guide to Star Wars Costumes' website.

The costume design sense of the prequels is rather eclectic, with the influences ranging from Renaissance fashion (especially in the men's outfits such as Palpatine's blue robes and his puffy sleeves) to East Asian and Middle Eastern traditional clothing. This Asian and Middle Eastern influence is very much obvious in the various regal robes worn by Queen Amidala (Keira Knightley), the queen of the planet Naboo which has been beseiged by the Trade Federation to set in motion... whatever, who doesn't know the plot of these movies by now. Amidala's outfits are iconic, with her first outfit being a red dress with fur lining, large sleeves, and a starched collar from which a patterned cloth hangs down from. Also of note is how the dress has orange jewel pieces embedded at the bottom of it, as well as of course her futuristic golden crown and hairdo.

Amidala's second costume is a more muted but still striking design, being a black grown worn over a mottled black and gold dress, with the gown designed to have frilled sleeves, and of course finished up as a headscarf with a large feather sticking out of it with two golden pieces placed where the ears would be. The tendency for rather uncommon, frilled fabrics is something that would be seen a lot in the costume designs for the prequels, especially for a lot of the aliens.

Amidala's third outfit, worn when she has arrived on the galactic centre of government Coruscant, is definitely East Asian inspired, being a grey lined dress similar in design to either a Japanese kimono or Chinese hanfu, with large sleeves coated in floral lining, and worn with an ornate fan-shaped headress covered in beaded threads.

One reason the film was so lambasted was how it was basically a mix between kiddyish action and dull space politics, and for the extremely uninteresting occassion Amidala wears another an almost direct lift on Mongolian regal garb, with the hairdo being the most obvious giveaway - people have even made images to highlight this! The actual outfit is still a delight, being made of various shades of red and gold, the lighter reds being made out of a different fabric.

During the actual boring political debates, this dress is also worn with a large black cloak over it.

When about to leave Coruscant, Amidala wears a black dress with large sleeves which have been cut in a way to let us see the inner fabric, which is of a shiny blue colour. The dress is also adorned with various silvery floral patterns along the cuffs, shoulders and collar as well.

On the return journey from Coruscant to Naboo, Amidala dons another vaguely Middle Eastern dress, this one being a purple deal with a regal headdress that looks like hair fitting into a veil-like fabric, with a golden segment worn over where the forehead would be.

Amidala's last dress is worn in the battle scenes where Naboo is liberated from the Trade Federation, and as such is a looser dress made for combat. This is a red gown with black lining, the black segments being made out of a thicker ridged fabric, and of course is worn with a large curved hairdo.

In almost all her scenes, Amidala is flanked by a group of handmaidens, who are usually always in hooded garments. For most of their appearances, the handmaidens are in bright fiery orange hooded gowns, with a cap piece over the top, and worn with a deep orange sash as well. One of these handmaidens, Padme (Natalie Portman), is the actual queen, as Amidala is just a decoy.

Padme, still pretending to be one of the handmaidens, still has to go in further disguise when the cast land on the planet Tatooine, where the first film was set (because it's easier to reuse ideas!), and as such dresses to be in more rural garb, consisting of a blue shirt and grey vest with a blue belt worn over it, the belt lined with gold and adorned with a circular red piece (possibly to give a hint as to her still regal nature).

On Coruscant, the handmaidens are very briefly seen wearing another type of robe, this one consisting of a two-tone garment with a thicker hooded piece, which has a golden vertical strip running down the front.

There is a chief handmaiden who spots a slightly different gown, this one being blueish fabric with a more thin material as the hood.

During the battle sequences, the handmaidens wear their own combat dress, which Padme wears as well. This combat dress is a purple frock-like garment worn over leggings of the same colour, with golden strips going down from the shoulders and large sleeves.

At the very end of the film, when Padme has came clean about being the real Naboo queen, she takes part in the parade celebrations, and sports a white dress with a pinkish cape made of fabric designed to almost resemble petals, with a large fan piece fitting on the back.

Most of the other Naboo citizens aren't too terribly worth noting, as we barely see them. The exception is the royal assistant Sio Bibble (Oliver Ford Davies) and yes, I hated having to type out that name as much as you hated having to read it. Bibble (yep, still a stupid name) wears a rather Renaissance-inspired outfit made of purple fabric, and designed with large sleeves. A rather charming costume, so a shame it was designed for a character called...'Bibble'. Also of note are some of the other unnamed advisors who are only briefly seen in the film, as well as in promotional images.

The Naboo security forces are all in uniforms, but I actually like these uniforms in contrast to the uniforms of the original films. Captain Panaka (Hugh Quarshie) sports a uniform of a blue coat with leather armor padding and gloves, with a large, rather archaic peaked cap. Other guards under his command wear curved helmets, red trousers and leather armor padding that makes them resemble 'Roundheads' of the English Civil War a bit, with other guards (only mostly seen in behind the scenes material) in yellow overalls, curved brown leather armor, and peaked caps.

The pilots of the Naboo military are also in rather archaic uniforms, a contrast to the pretty bland and 'realistic' pilot uniforms seen in the original films. The Naboo pilots wear flight helmets, yellow jumpsuits with large collars, and large orange coats over the jumpsuits.

The villain of all the films is the senator Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), a plot point that everyone knows by now, I mean him being played by the actor of the Emperor in Return of the Jedi must have been a giveaway at the time surely. Palpatine is perhaps one of the second best-dressed characters after the Naboo residents, though for this film he sports only one costume - a large sleeved blue tunic and cape, made of varying shades of blue fabric, as well as a diamond-shaped collar piece. Also behind him are Senate guards in blue robes and helmets designed to resemble the 'Trojan helmet' design.

During the film's interminable boring space politics sequences, Palpatine wears a mottled blue cloak over his standard costume.

The current leader of the Republic, Chancellor Valorum (Terence Stamp) is in a fairly long brown gown, though worn with a speckled blue robe, with his two aides Mad Amedda (Jerome Blake) and Sei Taria (Kamay Lau) being both in brown gowns, though Amedda's is of a lumpy, ridged material. Also of note are some other senator extras, who were either just only seen at a distance or in a deleted scene of senators from Alderaan joining in to vote against Valorum.

Most of the Tatooine costumes are not worth noting, being all varyingly grubby rags or makeshift spacesuits, with one notable exception being the brief appearance of Bib Fortuna (Matthew Wood), last seen in Return of the Jedi, though here wears a gown of a mottled shiny fabric - reminds me a little bit of the patterns of Gustav Klimt's artwork. Also included are some other extras that were seen only very briefly in the Mos Eisley sequences, such as a pair of slave girls in very sexualized outfits.

The villains of the film are the Trade Federation, who are also infamous for being some of the many racist alien designs this film would have, with their Asian stereotype accents - less so the costumes - everyone in these movies is dressed like that after all! The actual costumes for the Trade Federation were inspired by sketches by design director Doug Chiang, and are sadly rather nice, with the Trade Federation leader Nute Gunray in a red robe with a curved cut, metallic collar piece and large crown-like headpiece.

His assistant Rune Haako is in a more muted gown of green and grey, with the sleeves cut out in horizontal strips, and worn with a large headpiece that is designed to point up like horns.

There are other Trade Federation officials briefly seen, in obviously Asian-inspired outfits, which doesn't really bode well with the characters stupid caricature accents.

The Trade Federation's military also keep the theme of large pointed hats, with the ship's commander Dofine in a lined grey robe, and his underlings in more loose grey and black robes worn with the same conical headpiece.