Jedi couture

Angels, one of the most famous theatrical costumiers in showbiz (they have supplied everyone, from plays and TV to some of the biggest movies ever made) are having to clear some of their enormous back-stock of costumes and will be auctioning some 350 lots at Bonhams in March. Among the costumes going under the hammer are outfits from Indiana Jones, the Batman and Robin costumes from Only Fools and Horses, Doctor Who and from Star Wars the original Jedi robes worn by the late Sir Alec Guinness when he played Obi-Wan Kenobi. According to the BBC article the value of the Jedi costume wasn’t realised for many years and they were often hired out to be used as part of a monk’s robe for other productions.

In a nice coincidence one of flamboyant jackets worn by the late, great Jon Pertwee (currently to be heard in repeats of the classic Navy Lark on BBC Radio 7) in Doctor Who in the 70s is up for auction and inside a pocket they found a sonic screwdriver, which in true 70s BBC fashion was a silver pen with a plastic bit glued on. I liked that idea, reminds me of the story of the costume department for the classic movie version of The Wizard of Oz who bought some vintage jackets to use and found out that one had the name of the previous owner marked inside, one L Frank Baum… Bonhams say they will be allowing customers to try on selected costumes before the auction, so I’m sure many an SF&F fan will want to go along.