Slave Leo
This year, for con season, I’m dressing as Slave Leia… sort of.
If you’ve been following this blog, you know that, over a year ago, I wrote a post somewhat condemning the wearing of the Slave Leia costume. And though I’ve revised my stance, it would seem somewhat hypocritical of me to wear the costume without some justification, so I want to explain why I’ll be trotting around nearly naked at the cons this year.
1: Jealousy
Last year at Dragon Con, much of the Skepchick and Mad Art Lab crew dressed in gender bent versions of Star wars characters.
Skepchick and friends gender-bent Star Wars – Photo by Adam Isaak
It was awesome. They looked fantastic. I wanted to play, too. Myself and some of the other male MALers laughed that we wouldn’t be left out of such a fun game next year. We plotted as to what we could dress as… but there aren’t that many females in Star Wars, even fewer with iconic or even recognizable costumes if the genders were swapped… Somebody would have to find a way to gender-bend Slave Leia.
I drew the short, and mostly naked straw.
2: Cowardice
I will be honest, this costume is well outside my comfort zone. Normally, I’m a strong advocate for not doing things with which one is uncomfortable. There are often good reasons for the discomfort: questionable safety, social consequence, morality, lack of information, etc.
My reason, however, apart from a slight worry about being cold, is fear. Fear is not a reason, in itself, to not do something. Fear is a pretty useful heuristic tool for situations involving live tigers and such, but with time for rational and collected contemplation, it should give way to honest risk assessment and emotional reflection.
My fear is not well reasoned. I’m not afraid of injury or death or tigers in this situation. I’m not afraid of losing my job or my friends. I’m not even afraid of looking absurd or being laughed at, I have a whole webseries devoted to that. What I am afraid of is being judged, being scrutinized, being exposed.
I typically cosplay on the conservatively safe side. Last year I wore a jacket, tie, and overcoat and the nuances of my figure remained secreted away behind layers of fabric and tailoring.
Doctor Ryan circa 2012, Photo by Russ Creech
Walking around with barely any clothes on, exposing my imperfect skin, my undefined chest and abs, my knobby knees and my unsightly body hair is, well, terrifying. But then again, if I, a guy just on the scrawny side of ordinary, can’t muster the courage to wear such a costume, how brave must the women that do wear it be? Moreover, how can I call for throwing off the media-induced self-conscious insecurities about our bodies if I’m incapable of doing it myself? I think I’ve painted myself into a corner containing a gold bikini costume.
3: Pride
This costume is a challenge.
I could just buy a Slave Leia Costume and wear it. In a lot of ways, that would be easier; It would be purposely comedic and absurd. Nobody could mistake me for trying to look good in it. It would be a joke.
But that is not at all the point.
The point here is to make a gender-bent Slave Leia, a Slave Leo. The outfit must capture the essence, the aesthetic, and the artistry of the original costume, and twist them to suit a man. This is a fun game for any character, in my mind, but Slave Leia presents a deeper challenge.
Slave Leia is a sexual icon. I am not.
She is a well constructed collection of forms that succeed at accentuating and flattering the form while tantalizing the viewer with the threat of exposing forbidden bits of flesh. It is, effectively, fetish lingerie. How the hell do I make that masculine without making it either indecent or absurd?
That, there, is a design challenge that I’m too obstinate to back down from.
Even more than just getting the design right, I couldn’t just make this out of cardboard and hot glue. My hubris demanded that this be better than that, in fact, better than real. The gold bikini in the film was probably resin cast and held in place with tape and careful editing. I couldn’t accept that. I wanted the metal bits to be made of metal, the leather bits to be made of leather, the buckles to be real buckles and the overabundance of exposed flesh to be real exposed flesh.
I spent most of my Christmas vacation and dozens of evenings sketching, sewing, beating brass, dying and stitching leather until I had a product of which I could be proud and proud of it, I am. I had to learn new skills to build it. I had to experiment and fail and try again.
There is no way anyone could think of this as a casual joke. Serious time and effort went into the creation of this costume. So… now I can’t laugh this off as being just an ill-considered lark… no more excuses… see section 2 for my resurgent feelings on this.
Shame
In order to get over my misplaced sense of shame and fear, I hereby expose myself to the internet. I’m going to go hide under my bed now while I deal with this.
Classic Leia Pose.
Photo: Ange Clafield and Julia Hall
Don’t I look comfortable and confident in this next one? ALL LIES!
Photo: Angela Clayfield and Julia Hall
I actually looked like this for most of the shoot.
Photo: Angela Clayfield and Julia Hall
Classic super manly pose.
Photo: Angela Clayfield and Julia Hall
Obligatory Butt and Boobs Shot
Photo: Angela Clayfield and Julia Hall
Related Posts
Don’t Dress as Slave Leia Redux
I’m Going Home and Taking My Ball ...
DOWN WITH FAKE NERDS (A rallying cry to ...
Dragon*Con 2013 – Costuming Lesson...
#MadCostumeLab, A Survey
Shoes for Earthbound Superheroines
for its contents. This is a safe-cache copy of the original web site.
48 Comments
You’ve summed up exactly why I’ve considered costuming as Slave Leia. The challenge, the body image issues, everything. I bow to your confidence and awesomeness, sir.
Just so you know, I plan on following you around Dragon*Con with a video camera to capture the reactions. (Also, this really makes me want to do Slave Leia myself so I can catalogue the different reactions.)
You’ve outdone yourself. Everything about the execution of this is impressive. Speaking as someone who was rather underwhelmed by the original 2011 post, I take my hat off to you.
May I suggest replacing the kilt with hot pants? Just a personal preference, maybe. Otherwise: brilliant.
Oh my great-goodness Ryan, you have truly outdone yourself! Color me impressed.
Hi, yes. Impressed and happy and doing a happy dance. You are brave and bold, that’s amazing stuff. Also, I’m struggling with how to remark upon your comments regarding your bodily put-downs but realize that any praise offered would wind up proving points around objectification.
So…I’ll just say good job and that I wish I could be at the con…
Excellent. Both the artistic, creative quality and the technical quality are amazing. I’m vaguely irritated that I’m not sure if I could ever do a male Slave Leia without unintentionally totally ripping you off.
Incidentally, my wife thinks that you’re smoking hot. There are inappropriate cat-calls and everything.
Christopher your wife and I agree. I wish that everyone could dress up more and play around with gender and roles and well…just play. That in and of itself is sexy, at least I think so. Boldness and playfulness and a willingness to take risks around something we usually find so fraught? It’s awesome.
That is *amazing*, and I say that as a serious costumer myself. I love the design concept, the flawless execution, and the amazing translation of the concept of Slave Leia onto a male body. Bravo!!!!
I’m working on some female versions of the Avengers, and I hope they look half as amazing as your costume here does.
So, uh, I’m not a visual artist at all, but good god is this the best idea ever and I wish I could steal it. Any chance someone could commission one from you?
(Considering my next few cons I’ll be going as a presenter, that could be a lot of fun.)
This might be the best thing I have ever seen. Bravo both for the amazing costume and for overcoming your embarrassment to post these fantastic photos. The obligatory butt and boobs shot is just perfect.