The Gowns
Theed Throne Room Gown Black Traveling Gown
Handmaiden Disguise
Peasant Outfit Pre-Senate Gown
Senate Gown
More about Queen Amidala's costumes
The following was taken from the Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace official souvenir magazine.
The comments in the quotes were made by Costume Designer, Trisha Biggar.
The richness, variety and intricacy of the Episode I costumes can be seen on many of the story's characters, but none more so than the Queen. Although hesitant to admit to a favorite costume or character, Biggar concedes that she found many opportunities in designing and creating outfits for Queen Amidala, played by Natalie Portman, and her handmaidens. "The costumes for the Queen's planet, Naboo, were very interesting to do, because we printed distinctive designs onto the fabrics," she explains. "We also used various dye techniques, which allowed us to incorporate modern fabrics with antique pieces." The Queen wears eight costumes throughout the movie. Far fewer were originally planned, but Lucas' desire to expand the universe led top an almost three-fold increase. "George, wanted the Queen to have a different outfit every time we see her," Biggar says. Each of those outfits has its own special look. Perhaps the most complex is the Queen's throne room dress, which is illuminated by a series of lights around the hem. In keeping with the cultural/historical basis of many of the costumes, it has what Biggar calls "a sort of Chinese Imperial feel" through its scale and silhouette.
The Queen's costumes inspired Biggar and her team to seek out fabrics from all over the world. They even created a few of their own. "We had fabrics woven, painted, dyed - we've done everything you could do to a piece of fabric," recalls Biggar. The Queen's first travel dress was completely handmade and utilizes a spider-web type of fabric that took one person, working five days a week for 10 hours each day, more than a month to make. Biggar and her team also used several antique pieces. For the Queen's second foreign residence gown, Biggar found a piece from around 1910. "We think it was a dress," she comments, "but it was in so many pieces, we weren't sure what it was." Biggar transformed the piece's motifs into intricate embroidery. The Queen's battle dress was also time-and work-intensive: It took one person more than a month to complete. It was made from silkworm pods from India, which were woven into a silk net. The Queen's Senate appearance gown, with three layers, is even more intricate. The underdress, which is in orange short silk with a green weave - a 70-year-old fabric - is pleated; the pleats catch the light of the outfit's colors whenever the character moves.
Each of Amidala's costumes had an elaborate headdress. The Senate appearance headdress, which has a Mongolian feel, was the heaviest. The piece was plated in gold to get the right quality of color, then decorated wth little jewels. "We felt it was worth the effort, weight and expense of having real gold," says Biggar. Another headdress was made with an antique piece of beading from an exotic dancer's skirt, circa 1920. Part of it came down onto Portman's forehead; the beads were then draped up over the rest of the headdress, resulting in a bangs-like look. The accompanying dress was based on a Japanese kimono, to which Biggar added her own flourishes. She accentuated the sleeves quite a bit, calling them "penguin sleeves," because they were so rounded they looked somewhat like a penguin.
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