Seeing the Star Wars Exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts - Part I

For the last few months the Detroit Institute of Arts had a Star Wars costume display.   I was interested in going as soon as I found out they were going to have it.  However, it was one of those long time window things that kept getting put off.  Then I saw a billboard a couple of weeks ago that stated it was ending on September 30th.  I had a game on the weekend before that, so it had to be the 30th.  I ended up going with a friend and his sons and it was pretty neat.

 Part of me thought it was going to be like the Myth and the Magic show I saw at the Smithsonian and the Toledo Museum of Art a few years ago but it wasn't.  While that show also had some of the models used in Star Wars in addition to the costumes, this one was just the costumes.  But that was pretty cool.  This was the display that greeted you upon entry.  On the right is the costume used for Queen Amidala in the Phantom Menace.  On the left is the costume used by Obiwan Kenobi in a New Hope.

 A closer shot of the Amidala outfit.  It's amazing how much detail goes into some of these costumes.  For instance, I think this one may have had about 10 minutes of film time.

 A shot of her head.  I just love the hairstyle.

 A close up of Obiwan's head.  This outfit saw a little more screen time than they other. 

 A full shot of his costume.

 A sketch of the opening crawl for Star Wars.  I think it was originally only going to be one movie but it was such a success that the studio signed up for the other two.  After Return of the Jedi, there was a hiatus of Star Wars things until the early 1990's.  After a resurgence, George Lucas decides to make the prequels.  And now that George Lucas sold Star Wars, I expect it's going to be around for much longer.

 I think this was a preliminary sketch for the lightsaber duel between Darth Maul and the two Jedi.

 This is a sketch of Obiwan leaping over Darth Maul to chop him in half.

 Emperor Palpatine's cloak.

 Kind of a mock lightsaber duel between some Jedi and Darth Maul.  Although this never happened in the movies.

 An earlier version of Darth Maul.  I think this one looks kind of cool.

 Another Darth Maul concept.

 Closer to what we saw in the movies.

 And yet another Darth Maul concept.

 The Jedi robes that Luke Skywalker wore in Return of the Jedi.  Interestingly enough, Return of the Jedi was almost called Revenge of the Jedi but then someone reminded Lucas that Jedi don't get revenge.

 The costume worn by Anakin Skywalker at the end of Phantom Menace.

 Another angle of the lightsaber duel.

 A mockup of the Lucas art studios.

 Another costume worn by Queen Amidala.

 A sketch of the costume that would be made famous by Princess Leia.

 Another concept drawing for Queen Amidala.

 Another one of her costumes.

 One of the costumes that was worn by her handmaidens.

 A concept drawing for Queen Amidala.

 An early sketch of R2-D2.

 A sketch of the suit that a tiny Kenny Baker would fit into.

 The R2-D2 costume.

 I don't think this was a costume because I think BB-8 might have been a computer animation.  But they probably needed something for a mock up.

 And C-3PO.

 I think C-3PO was based loosely on the robot in Metropolis and this sketch kind of gives it away.

A shot of C-3PO's head.