Darth Vader replica costume from Star Wars(1977)

Prop facts

Movie
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
Year
1977
Franchise
Star Wars
Character
Darth Vader
Type
Replica
Category
Costumes / Wardrobe
Status
Showcase
Listed by
vader45
Listed since
December 2025

Description

This is the most accurate costume of Darth Vader from Star Wars(1977) ever replicated. The Helmet, Armor and shins all have lineage that can be traced back to the original screen used pieces. The helmet and armor is from Mike Warren. He produces copies of the DJ helmet and armor. Those casts came from the Rick Baker molds. In 1977 make up effects artist Rick Baker was tasked to create copies for touring costumes. He molded the original costume pieces. These molds still reside in the Lucasfilm archives. A couple of details were removed from the DJ cast, this was long before the fan community of preservation and replacation was a thing. Mike Warren beautifully reengineered those details back into the casts he sells. The DJ armor received a bit more clean up then the helmet. Again Mike reengineered the screen details back into the casts he sells. The shin guards are copies of the shins from the "MP''(Movie Poster suit for the ESB teaser poster) tour suit. The MP suit is one of the original 6 suits made for touring that came from Rick's molds. When the MP parts were molded they saw 40+ plus years of use and storage. All of the damage from that time translated into the casts. They contain detail unique to the MP suit. Everything else was replicated to be as accurate as possible. I worked with Fenix Props on the gloves to recreate the most accurate pair made available. The original pair that were owned by Kermit Eller were put up for auction and the auction provided very high res and details photos. Both the cape and body suit were custom ordered for the continuing of screen accuracy. The cape was made as a half circle with corduroy running down the front edges. All of the weathering on the boxes were meticulously replicated based on the Kermit Eller photos and are real scratches and paint chips as opposed to faked topical weathering. Everything was sized to David Prowse including the cape and body suit. So this is a display only suit.

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