Re: Not Quite as Screen-Used as I Originally Thought Vader Costume

Carson Dyle

Carson Dyle

Sr Member
Once Upon A Time, In A Galaxy Just Over The Caheunga Pass, I was employed by a certain SFX company where, for a brief time, I was fortunate to have had access to a (mostly) screen-used Darth Vader costume.*

My good friend and fellow Vader devote Charles Adams has taken a valiant stab at identifying the various bits of randomly assembled Vaderness comprising this incarnation of the fabled outfit. The results can be found below, along with a couple other shots taken back in the day.

Sorry for the less-than-stellar image quality, but these are scans of fifteen year-old prints (made public here for the first time)...

NB: The above description was written based upon a determination made by Camden House in 1991. Since this thread was posted, valid questions have been raised as to the provenance of the pictured items. View with caution!

DV4-1.jpg


Rob-LFLcostumeParts-1.jpg


DV5.jpg


I’m also re-posting a couple of extremely rare pix of the Chronicles shoot (originally put up on my “greaves for sale” Junkyard thread)...

d8.jpg


g6.jpg


g5.jpg


Lest I be slammed with PMs, please know in advance that these are the only images of this costume I’m at liberty to share. And, no, I don’t have any higher-rez copies I’d like to sell.

Enjoy.
 
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Re: Mostly Screen-Used Vader Costume

OK, where's GINO??? JUST KIDDING!!!!


Brad
 
Re: Mostly Screen-Used Vader Costume

Cool pix....thanks for posting. Undoubtedly this will be a long thread while the details of the various costime pieces are scurtinized and debated. I'm struck by the extremely short hem line of the inner robe (even for stunt work it seems uber short) and the very wide spacing of the stitching on the arms of the bodysuit shirt.
 
Re: Mostly Screen-Used Vader Costume

Very cool photos!
Thank you for sharing them.

I would love to see more but I know how that goes.....

The search for ANH reference in never ending, and those shots from the Chronicles shoot are impressinve.

Were you present at the photoshoot?
 
Re: Mostly Screen-Used Vader Costume

I don't agree with most of the call outs.
The entire suit looks like a promotional suit and not screen used.

Still cool to see nonetheless.

.
 
Re: Mostly Screen-Used Vader Costume

GINO said:
I don't agree with most of the call outs.
The entire suit looks like a promotional suit and not screen used.
Click to expand...

Camden House expressed similar concerns prior to auctioning off the under suit and accompanying cloaks in 1991. The Berman's label found on those items (repeatedly misspelled "Darth Varder", at a time before the name had become a household word) is consistent with the labels found on other ANH-era Vader items. At the end of the day, following ample due dilligence and letter-trading with Berman's, it was determined the under suit was screen-used ANH.

Having inspected (and worn) the suit in person, this certainly came to no surprise to me. No one in their right mind would construct so heavy, cumbersome, unwiedldy, and elaborate an item for promotional purposes. It took nearly an hour to lace, snip, and velcro myself into the thing. Trust me, there was nothing "refined" about it.

BTW, with the exception of the greaves and gloves, the costume pictured in the first three shots is currently in the possession of LFL.
 
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Re: Mostly Screen-Used Vader Costume

Carson Dyle said:
And, no, I don’t have any higher-rez copies I’d like to sell.
Click to expand...

Okay, do you have any higher rez copies you want to give away? :lol

Seriously though, thanks for sharing these.

Not sure which part of the suit you're saying was screen used. I am guessing that the leather part is not, just based upon the width of the leather strips.

vadersleeve.jpg


These are a great historical reference nonetheless and I really appreciate that you shared them.
 
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Re: Mostly Screen-Used Vader Costume

Looks as though the belt is still in LFL hands, if it is indeed the same belt. Hard to tell although seems to have all of the same features. Cool suit regardless of production specifics.

Btw...I have no reference which shows what description LFL gave this belt at CIV, so if anyone has any pics of the plaques below this case, I'd be interesting in seeing them. Not that it matters as they mislabel items continuously, but would still be cool to see what they say it is.
 
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Re: Mostly Screen-Used Vader Costume

Actually, that suit pictured is not the ANH leather undersuit either.

There were lots of leather undersuits made for promotional purposes.
In fact, some of the promo items during the ESB era came back to LFL and were unintentionally mixed in with the screen used pieces and ended up being used in parts of ROTJ.

Promo vs. screen used vader items still remain mixed up in the archives to this day.


.
 
Re: Mostly Screen-Used Vader Costume

Lol, far be it for me to disagree with the experts.

Gino, just out of curiosity, do you happen to know how many "Darth Varder" under suits Berman and Nathan's created?
 
Re: Mostly Screen-Used Vader Costume

One of the most intersting threads i can remember. Great unseen photos and some interesting infos...thanks for sharing:thumbsup
 
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