Top 10 Costumes of Disney-era Star Wars

It’s hard to believe that the sale of Star Wars to Disney happened over ten years ago, at this point. Disney started developing more Star Wars adventures pretty immediately after that, and released the first new film installment since The Clone Wars movie in 2015, with The Force Awakens. There has been a pretty steady stream of content since then, both on the big and small screens, and while not all the new adventures have been beloved, per se, they’ve all seemed to understand the core ethos of Star Wars‘s design philosophy: exuberant extravagance blended with a deceptive simplicity.

While the years of Padmé going from one gorgeous outfit in one scene to another in the next might have passed, a lot of Disney-era Star Wars costumes are still fantastic to look at.Michael Kaplan took the torch from the Prequel Trilogy’s main costume designer, Trisha Biggar (who has recently worked on Outlander). Kaplan just did the costumes for the Sequel Trilogy; it’s been a mix of different designers since.



The Mandalorian has a different aesthetic than Andor, which has a different aesthetic than The Acolyte, for example; they all fit into the wider category of ‘Star Wars style,’ but they also all deal with radically different periods and worlds. With that in mind, here are the top 10 best costumes of Disney-era – from films and TV shows, regardless of their overall reception.Honorable Mention: Leia Organa (Obi-Wan Kenobi)The costumes of the last few Star Wars shows (Andor excepted) have all felt rather utilitarian, or, worse, not incredible reinterpretations of classic Star Wars looks (The Acolyte‘s take on Jedi garb, for example).

It was mostly the same story with Obi-Wan Kenobi; we’ve seen Obi-Wan’s outfit, and the many variations of it before; all the Tatooine characters don’t change outfits much; even Bail and Breha Organa seemed to lack the style of their appearance in Revenge of the Sith. While Moses Ingram as Reva was a great performance, her costume felt like they’d tried to make a more feminine Stormtrooper armor. But the inclusion of tiny Leia did give a glimpse of hope, which is maybe the point? After all, Obi-Wan Kenobi takes place after ROTS and before Andor, even.

That’s a dark period in the Star Wars chronology. The fact that Leia seems to have her mother’s wardrobe at the tender age of ten is heartening, with her father’s attitude to boot. Her green outfit (which recalls her forest camo on Endor) is probably the best one, but all her outfits seem to wink at the stylish, if serious, woman to come.

The costumes of Obi-Wan Kenobi were designed by Suttirat Anne Larlarb.10. Grogu’s robes (The Mandalorian)If you’ve ever played with one of the life-size Grogu toys, you already know: his costume is comfy – and more interesting than it appears at first glance (deceptively simple!).

A lot has been made of how Grogu himself seemed designed to capture the hearts of a world longing for cuteness, and his costume further emphasizes that. It doesn’t look like the typical ‘Jedi robes’ Yoda wore on Dagobah. It’s kind of like a thin winter coat.

.. and it has a wool collar? The collar might be the best part, because it takes his robes from shift canvas to.

.. fashion, for a little gremlin baby.

He looks comfortable! He always seems vaguely at home with himself, which, considering he’s some kind of galactic foundling, is pretty neat! The Mandalorian‘s costumes were designed by the late Shawna Trpcic, who also designed the costumes for The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka. 9. Poe and Finn’s Shared Jacket (The Force Awakens & The Last Jedi)It’s kind of incredible that Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and his willingness to part with his sick leather jacket launched a ship all on its own.

Finn (John Boyega) kept Poe’s jacket, looked good in it, and even had it repaired in between The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. He abandons it during The Last Jedi when he has to disguise himself as an Imperial officer. It is never seen again, and therein lies the whole reason why the sequel trilogy disappointed, ultimately.

I kid. Poe’s jacket was very cool, though, much like all of The Force Awakens. It signaled that the dedication to transmitting character traits through costuming was still a part of Star Wars, and it gave a wonderful bonding moment for two characters who ended up working very well together.

The little details on it were nice, too; the quality of the jacket itself elevated Poe immediately...

he looks like the best pilot in the galaxy with that thing.8. Admiral Holdo’s Gown (The Last Jedi)No, Vice Admiral Holdo (Laura Dern) wasn’t the greatest one-and-done Rebel/Resistance character we’ve had.

Does wearing a gorgeous gown make any sense when everyone else is in uniforms and fatigues? I don’t know, maybe it does on her home planet (Gatalenta, by the by). As we learned with Mon Mothma by now on Andor, there are quite a few cultures in Star Wars who like their clothes, beyond the entire planet of Naboo. Holdo is meant to be a contemporary of Leia’s, in many ways; perhaps her choice of garb was meant to be in contrast to Leia’s usually more utilitarian costumes (with notable exceptions, of course).

The dedication to color coordination is, admittedly, one of my favorite things here; if you read the backstory of Holdo (who was created for The Last Jedi, but fleshed out in tie-ins), she’s genuinely really interesting. Her costuming makes sense! Having more women leaders in Star Wars is always welcome; it’s too bad that ultimately, her design as a character is the only lasting positive thing people got from her.7.

The Armorer & Her Furs (The Mandalorian)There’s a lot of Mandalorian armor shown off between The Mandalorian series and its two follow-ups, The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka. Considering the whole of Mandalorian culture was created based on Boba Fett’s short appearances in the Original Trilogy, and expanded for Jango Fett’s inclusion in the Prequels, it does rather feel like they’re making up for lost time. And hey! Mando armor is cool, there’s no disputing that.

Boba Fett’s is probably the most iconic of them all, but that’s an Original Trilogy design; Din Djarin’s is...

fine, but the focus of his character was never his stylish take on the world. Bo-Katan’s armor technically was designed for the animation shows pre-Disney, so it doesn’t count here. That leaves.

.. well, thank goodness, the enigmatic Armorer.

She’s mysterious, sure, but also...

is that fur? Not to mention her little horns on her helmet. Her first appearance in the very first episode of The Mandalorian seemed to establish that we were in brand new territory; now, even the Mandalorians were beginning to differentiate themselves on-screen.6.

The Denizens of Canto Bight (The Last Jedi)One of my favorite things about the Prequel Trilogy was that they would often go hog wild for costumes in group scenes. In a world today where most of those characters would probably just be CGI, Trisha Biggar and her team went all out (giving us Blue Lucas in the process). The scenes in Canto Bight with the ridiculously dressed rich people at the casino in space seemed like a throwback to that.

Is the whole thing excessive? Yes. Of course it is. It’s also pure Prequel energy.

It feels like someone watched the ascot scene in the film adaptation of My Fair Lady (1964) and declared there must be a planet where space Cecil Beaton (the costume designer of My Fair Lady) is king. More of that energy, please.5.

Cobb Vanth (The Mandalorian)Hey there, space cowboy. Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant) might not wear a cowboy hat, but a cowboy he is. Cobb makes his first appearance in the Season 2 premiere of The Mandalorian, and there are some immediate things to notice about him: one, he stole some of Boba Fett’s armor; and two, he has a funky little red scarf.

He looks good! When he takes Boba Fett’s armor off later, it’s also a transformation: he looks less intimidating, leaner, and hungrier. There’s not a lot of traditional Star Wars menswear on this list; we’ve seen a lot of it before, honestly. But Cobb wears a striking amount of color! On Tatooine! Even if he didn’t look so cool, he’d get bonus points for that alone.

4. General Leia Organa Solo’s Mourning Robes (The Last Jedi)Leia’s costumes in the Sequel Trilogy never quite lived up to her costumes in the Original Trilogy (or even Obi-Wan Kenobi), but her costume in The Last Jedi is the exception. In The Force Awakens, she’s less glam, more work casual; in The Last Jedi, she gets an outfit worthy of her mother, with a really cool collar, to boot.

It felt like she was settling into elder stateswoman mode here, as well as acknowledging that she’d lost a lot of people by this point; this outfit does feel like mourning garb for the resilient older space woman. The late and always missed Carrie Fisher wears it well; considering her appearances in The Rise of Skywalker were mostly cobbled together from Force Awakens outtakes, this is the last costume she got to wear as the always stylish rebel princess she created all the way back in 1977.3.

Lando Calrissian’s Younger Look (Solo: A Star Wars Story)Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars StoryIt was hard to choose between Leia’s The Last Jedi outfit and Donald Glover’s take on Lando Calrissian for the third place on this list! Ultimately, though...

points go to the younger version of Lando in Solo. Glover was probably always the best casting here, but the costume he’s given, which does feel like an earlier version of the very cool, not at all slightly dated costumes Billy Dee Williams wore in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, sells it. This feels like Lando’s style, just a decade or so before his first appearance in canon established he was one of the coolest men in the galaxy.

It’s an update, but it’s true to its source. And those colors! They pop!2. Director Orson Callan Krennic and his cape (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story)The drama.

The majesty. The fact that his entire aesthetic would deeply anger Disney’s resident fashion designer. Pixar’s Edna Mode may believe firmly in “No capes!” but Krennic apparently saw that Darth Vader had a cape and decided he needed one too.

That the architect of the original Death Star was a bit of a diva both surprised and delighted fans when Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was released in 2016. Ben Mendelsohn got to build a character who had been considered since the idea of Rogue One first came about in the pre-Disney days, and he really committed to the tradition that the Imperial officers always have to be somewhat interesting. Krennic continued the idea that Imperial officers are constantly infighting and took it to new heights.

In Tarkin’s one appearance in A New Hope, he’s clearly top dog; the other officers on the Death Star just kind of squabble beneath him. Rogue One established that Tarkin once had his own rivalries. He also wears white, not gray or black, like most of the other Imperial officers and leaders.

It’s not to indicate any kind of moral purity on his part; it’s just to add to his whole peacock aesthetic. He’s the best example of Disney-era Star Wars bringing the exuberant extravagance of the Prequels forward. Both Rogue One and Solo were co-costume designed by Glyn Dillon and Dave Crossman.

1. Mon Mothma’s Wardrobe (Andor)Andor really has the best costuming of Disney-era Star Wars, hands down. Not only are multiple worlds and cultures established, but classic canon characters like Mon Mothma finally get the design upgrade they deserve.

Even in Rogue One, where Genevieve O’Reilly got to play Mon Mothma some more after being mostly cut out of Revenge of the Sith, the design fell back on her original appearance in Return of the Jedi. Andor costume designer Michael Wilkinson gave Mon Mothma one of the best character wardrobes, period, in season one of Andor; it’ll be exciting to see all her new looks in season two, and whether we’ll get an understanding of why she ultimately eschews Coruscant-influenced Chandrilan fashion in favor of more traditional cultural garb. Mothma’s wardrobe makes sense for a Senator at her level of status; while Padmé’s Senator wardrobe was stunning, it didn’t always track with her actual job.

She always dressed like the Queen she was, rather than the legislator she became. Mothma, though, looks like she’s always ready to negotiate or broker a deal, even when wearing formal wear.What Disney-era Star Wars costumes are your favorites? Let us know below! Star Wars content is streaming on Disney+.

The post Top 10 Costumes of Disney-era Star Wars appeared first on ComicBook.com..