Mal Reynolds Firefly costume

Bronson BB

It's been pretty quiet on the costuming forum lately, so I thought I revive this old topic on a new thread.

Captain Malcolm Reynolds' series outfit.
The bits, and some of where to get `em.

The Brown coat
The original prop maker Johnathan Logan sells these for a lot of money.
Jonathan Logan
Abbyshot doesn't look as good, but is more affordable.
Abbyshot


The shirt(s)
I count no less than eight or nine shirts worn by the good captain during the run of the series, but always stuck to a solid color of collared, buttoned, long sleeved shirt.
Basically find something you look good in and go with it. Wild West Mercantile is a good starting point for this.
Wild West Mercantile

Pants
The 'Hero' pants worn during the run of the series were actually 100 years old, so I hear. So the best you're going to be able to find are back at Wild West Mercantile again
I personally wear the Frontier Classics brand Frontier Trousers but there are also Wah Maker Frontier Pants, and Wild West Mercantile Texas Trousers that all match fairly closely to the screen used pair.
Wild West Mercantile

None of the pants I list above come with the piping down the outside seam that Mal had. Shawna added that herself, I think.
It's been called a strip of one inch wide Grosgrain and looks in close-up to be of several gray and dark brown alternating stripes. I hear-tell it started as another color and was dyed, too.
I wish you luck in finding something that'll work. The 76th just uses a plain brown stripe.
76th Battalion

Boots
Mal wore a pair of low-cut shoes with a set of 'spats' glued onto the uppers. There are conflicting reports as to the base shoe that was used so the best option is to find someone who makes Mal-esque replicas.
Motor Cowboy makes a set of inaccurate boots, so I went to Schrader Bootmaker to have a set custom made for the same price. He didn't make the three ribs visible enough, and they are supposed to sweep upwards in the back, but even I didn't know that at the time, so over all, I'm VERY happy with his work.
Motor Cowboy
Schrader Bootmaker
Also Diaz Leathers

Suspenders
These were custom made out of a pair of 1940's era Israeli military load-bearing suspenders
They look like this
Israeli Army "H" Suspenders
I also had to get these to go with them
Leather strips

Gloves
Well, they were black, didn't show a lot of seam, had three wavy lines down the back of the hand and mostly sat slung into his pistol belt. I don't know if anyone has any better info than that.
Some Gloves

Holster
Brennan Byers of GBB Custom Leather is the original maker of Mal's TV holster. I have one, It's beautiful, if inaccurate. But for the fan on a budget, you can again go to Browncoat fashions for the whole pistol rig (holster, belt and pouches).
GBB Custom Leather
Browncoat Fashions

Pistol Belt
Mal wore a Word War Two era East German Officers Dress Uniform belt in brown and gold.
You'll notice in some promotion stills though, that the thin uniform belt isn't really up to the task of holding the pistol up. So you MAY want to go with something heavier even if it's less accurate.

ALSO; for the holster AND pistol belt, you won't find better than the QMx
Firefly Mal Holster Artisan Replica

Pistol
Mal's pistol was a Taurus model 85 with both the original barrel and grip hacked off. It was than welded into an ill fitting brass shell. And somehow it turned out beautiful!
Here's some folks who've made either the movie or show versions...

Wilco!
Philippe's resin cast from TV stunt. Good luck getting one of these.
The Model 47a
There are a few odd Sidkit pistols floating around, but they're rare.
Finally, QMx makes just the movie version. Currently only in resin. QMx

Darth Mule

Wow! Rarely do you see a one-stop resource guide for this type of thing. Thank you for posting this. Mal may be a far off planned project, but it's still on the radar and this is great. Thanks again!

defyitall

Diaz Leathers on eBay makes a boot replica as well:

http://cgi.ebay.com/FIREFLY-SERENITY...3%3A1|294%3A50

I'm not sure what the deal is currently but I remember at one point he wasn't sure how long he could stock the sole. So a preemptive email might be good for someone in the market.

PadawanLearner

were you looking over my shoulder yesterday as I was checking out old Malcom Firefly posts trying to find out info on it? hehe.
Thanks for the very informative post!

Bronson BB

I posted a Kaylee thread some time back, too.
I was looking for all available info on her at the time.

Bronson BB

BTW; that IS the right link for Jonathan Logan, so until his site is fix't, there is this...

Jonathan A. Logan - Custom Leathers
8336 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90069

Phone: 800-472-5984 or 323-653-9155
Fax: 323-653-9730

Goodwolf

I thought Trpcic made the Firefly while Logan made the Serenity version... Or did she just design it?

From what I hear about Logan, I wouldn't buy from him if the entire cast of Firefly delivered it and performed my favorite episode in my living room as part of the deal.

Well maybe if Morena wanted to recreate the love scene from the pilot with me cast as the bumbling guy.

EchoSix

Ahhh, Morena....

Jango Wes

I have the Abbyshot coat and love it. I have the Browncoat fashions holster and it's damn good for the money. The guy who made the acutal holster quoted me $340 for the holster ALONE. No belt. Nada. I also have a Phillipes casting (unpainted) that I won't touch, but I use the Wilco with the costume. The Diaz boots are a lot better than they look in the pics. They are comfy, which is a plus for walking around. My shirt is a navy blue button up from Old Navy. Same Frontier pants you listed, held up by the Israeli suspenders, but for the stripe I used the brown ribbed stripe like from a sheriff's uniform pants. Definitely one of my favorite costumes.

Wes

zman

I've wanted to do a Mal for awhile and now that I'm done with Dengar, this list would make it tempting and easy to get started. Thanks!

SonofJoker

I've been working on a Mal costume for two years now, slowing gathering little bits here and there. It may not be totally SA, but it's in the Mal style.

Hairyloft

cool tread and cool costume

Bronson BB

Well, I'll say this.
I bought my coat from JL right after I failed to win bidding on Ebay for the original Hero Browncoat used in the series.
It came with tanning damage that he didn't catch, nor did I until nearly a week after I got it.
He has promised that he will replace the coat, but since I'm not a studio or other major money-maker, he does 'one off' work like this between his big jobs and that means there is a long wait sometimes.

Personally, I understand this, and even though I have had a bit of a wait, my phone calls with Johnathan have always been friendly and sometime even extended into us talking about movies, our favorite actors and the like.

Heck, I need to call him today.

Patattack

I believe Trpcic designed the Firefly stuff and Logan produced the physical coat. The Serenity version was made by a different person.

pennausamike

Ah yes, the Serenity Browncoat;
with the big black rubber doo-hickey to make it look more "science-fiction-y".
Some of the design work for Serenity was nice, but I've put some rants on the web about some of the design lead balloons created for the BDM, Serenity.
(Chrome motocross troopers, purple Alliance bling baseball caps, Simon's Star Trek Tunic, etc., etc.)

I can't speak to Logan's business dealings, but he "got" what the designers wanted for Mal's Browncoat and did a great job creating the original iconic piece.

Goodwolf

That he did. It's funny, but when I started researching patterns with an eye towards making a browncoat, I was all over frock coats. Figured it's western-ish, right?

Then one day I was looking in a new age catalog and they had this mandarin Chinese robe. I blinked. I looked closer. IT was a browncoat in cloth.

Rather, the BC was essentially a leather mandarin robe, complete with the turned back sleeves for color contrast. Logan may be a flaky dude to deal with, but he's a sort of genius as well.

E-Wan

Did you find a suitable pattern? I was looking at the western patterns online and thinking about modding one.

Goodwolf

Actually, I never did. What I wound up doing was getting a brown duster from work. This is a pic of the particular one.


I removed the cape and wear it with workboots, desert cammie pants and different canon and non canon tshirts.

http://www.pyramidcollection.com/ite...PageNo=1&pos=2 Sorry for the encyclpedic link, but this is a link to a discontinued mandaran style jacket from the company that originally had the robe I saw. You can see the turned back sleeves, and frog closures that inspired Trpcic. Add in a slightly flared length and the proper collar and Bob's your father's brother. The collar and lapels are different though.

From what I gather, the pattern isn't that hard to knock out, it's getting the buckles made that's hanging up most people who want accuracy.

Charles Kline

Awesome thread Bronson BB!

Thanks for sharing all this info.

Bronson BB

Well, sometimes I feel I've leached enough and it's time to give back.
I've got a Kaylee thread too, and am working on the bits for a Jayne thread, but that'll be a while coming.

Charles Kline

Did the load bearing suspenders take dye ok?

Bronson BB

Unfortunately, no. Mine are green under the tan and the green came back out with my test dyeing. I've yet to see what multiple dunks do for them, but that's where I plan to go with them next.

Luckily, I kept the bits I cut off when I changed out the back so it didn't have to mess with the s'penders I actually wear.

thorssoli

They're made out of nylon or some other synthetic, right? You should be able to get them to accept dye a bit better if you soak them in acetone first. Learned that over at thedentedhelmet.com.

Bronson BB

Canvas actually. They date back a few decades.

E-Wan

Does anyone have a good high-res photo of how Mal's suspenders look at the back? Specifically how they attach to the leather strip before attaching to the pants.