ANAHEIM, Calif. – Seated in the dark, waiting for a panel to begin at the four-day, Lucasfilm-blessed Star Wars Celebration, Jeff David of Arizona tugged at his baseball cap, which, if you were paying close attention, was not for a sports team. Anywhere else, its choppy, angular mainframe design and splashes of black and red across the lid and cap might have suggested, oh, NASCAR? But here, the thin strip of black, red and grays were obvious:
Boba Fett, bounty hunter.
“It’s basically his helmet, in hat form,” David said. “But it’s not overt, but it’s there, which is what I like about it. A real ‘Star Wars’ fan would get it.”
The stereotype of the “Star Wars” fan – of the sci-fi nerd, in general – does not paint a stylish picture. You imagine men in white Stormtrooper battle armor and the brown sacred bathrobes of the Jedi order. And yes, those people were at Celebration – every time you looked up. But much more interesting, and almost as ubiquitous, were clever, everyday “Star Wars” fashions: clothing worn long after the plastic armor is put away.
These were not looks graded on a learning curve, but smartly integrated and natural: R2D2 dresses and ballgowns patterned off the 1970s Marvel “Star Wars” comic books, motorcycle jackets with Empire-influenced gang patches and leggings patterned with Darth Vader. And then there were the T-shirts, vintage and funny and sequined, modeled on Day of the Dead traditions or scripted with pop-music-inspired jokes like: “I’m all about the base, no rebels.” There was a booth selling Stormtrooper hoodies and a booth for Her Universe, a company offering tasteful, playful, even hipster “Star Wars” fashions for women. And these booths were very, very busy.
The people in the accompanying video were wearing some of my favorite looks.
