Oonan the Twi’lek

One creature that has always fascinated me in Star Wars are Twil’eks. The female Twi’leks are considered very beautiful and are bought by many rich males of other races as slaves (mostly sex slaves) to show off to the other males just how powerful they are. Of course, what I really liked in this costume was the lekku (head tails) and the idea of wearing lots of make-up (full face and hands - I'm too modest to go for full body make-up). But still, what woman would not like to feel desired, even by a bunch of Star War geeks!

My Twi’lek is not a character from any movies or the extended universe. I made her up. I even invented her a little story: Oonan works in a bar on Coruscant, entertaining customer. She belongs to the bar’s owner and is above nothing to please the customers and be rewarded by her master, even seducing Boba Fett or throw her arms around a Trooper.

The costume in general is inspired by the one worn by Ann and Tann Gella, the Twi'lek twins owned by Sebulba (Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace - 1999) and Oola, one of Jabba the Hutt's dancers (Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi - 1983).

Gwenyver as Oonan the Twi'lek, 2005

Skin

The “skin” is a bodysuit made of stretchy turquoise fabric that has a slight leathery finish. I used Jalie pattern #945 (view C) as a base and I lengthened the sleeves and legs, I changed the neckline and added a zipper to the back.

Lekku

The head piece was invented as I went. I made the lekku as two 1 metre long by 30 cm large triangles in the same stretchy turquoise fabric I used for the “skin”. In between the lekku, there is a rounded "hat" piece, which consists of two half circles 15 cm large by 20 cm wide. The lekku are stuffed and heavy so to get them to hold on my head I added an elastic around the edge (making them look strangely like a pair of tights) and a white velvet decorative elastic with little diamonds that goes under my chin.

Bone Crest & Cuffs

The Bone Crest and cuffs are made from leftover white and silver stretch fabric.

For the Bone Crest, I calculated the circumference of my head, where my ears were and how high they were to draw it right. I cut two and made the ears on the top piece by cutting holes, satin stitching around it and loosely tacking a piece of of turquoise "skin" fabric inside. I had originally wanted to stuff the ears but it looked to Smurf-like to I took the stuffing out. In the back, there are four eyelets so I can lace it up with a black cord. I decorated the Bone Crest with four medium sized plastic diamonds and made a badge of the Alliance Impériale logo with Fimo and silver spray paint.

The wrist cuffs are plain bands of fabric that close thanks to a big silver snap button.

Sexy Oonan, 2005

Clothes & Shoes

The clothes are made of sport mesh. I used Simplicity 9688 view B as a base for the top, adding the low cut in the front, and McCall’s 4261 view E for the pants, for which I made the legs longer and wider to give them a bell bottom shape. I used silver cord to tie both the pants and top.

The shoes are white platform sneakers from my Spice Girls period.

Make-Up

I went around with a swatch of my fabric looking for the perfect make-up for a couple of days. I couldn't find perfection pre-packages, so I mixed Mehron liquid make-up in Blue, Yellow and White to cover my face, neck and hands. On the pictures, my make-up kept flaking away - I looked like a Twi’lek with a very bad sunburn. Now, I add a little Mehron liquid latex to the mix and it looks a lot better. Whatever it says on the bottle, full face make-up will stain clothes, shoelaces, carpets and whatever else it comes in contact with. You might want to think of a “Careful, Wet Paint” sign to put around your neck. Oh, and do bring straws if you intend to drink anything.

For the finishing touches, I ended up finding the perfect match with Cover Girl. I use Continuous Color 3 in 1 nail polish in electric blue (#132) for my nails (obviously), CG Eye Slicks in aqua flash (#420) as a lipstick and for my eyes and L’Oréal Rouge Pulp in Revealing (#13) to give my lips a glossier look.

Oonan's Rebel Legion Creature Card

This was my first technically screen accurate Star Wars costume. I say technically because as I previously mentioned, this is a made-up character, but the attributes are inspired by the movie version of Twi'leks. It was made in a week for my first Alliance Impériale trooping event, a Spaghetti Dinner for the Laval Police Department, which was a family event. People there thought I was Diva Plavalaguna from The Fifth Element (1997). Hum.

Not everyone is as geeky as I am.