How Apple inspired the design of Force Awakens’ new stormtroopers

Apple’s influence on the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens extends far beyond Kylo Ren’s ugly crossguard lightsaber.

The Force Awakens costume designer Michael Kaplan has designed costumes on movies like Blade Runner and Fight Club, but when it came time to redesign the new stormtrooper armor for director J.J. Abrams, Kaplan said he looked to Apple as his biggest inspiration on how to perfect the stormtrooper’s white, plastic-y armor.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Kaplan says when he got to London to work on the stormtrooper armor, he found it quite simple: Just ask, “What would Apple do?”

Q: Did you invent some kind of fashion back-story in your head to explain how the look of this galaxy might have evolved?

A: Maybe subconsciously, but with the stormtroopers it was more of a simplification, almost like, “What would Apple do?” J.J. wanted them to look like stormtroopers at a glance but also be different enough to kind of wow people and get them excited about the new design.

Abrams revealed earlier this year that his pal Jony Ive had some influence on the look of the lightsabers in the new movie. Ive told The New Yorker that he suggested “it would be interesting if it were less precise, and just a little bit more spitty … more analog and more primitive, and I think, in that way, somehow more ominous.”

Along with talking about Apple’s influence on the new costumes, Kaplan said the Empire’s uniforms have a Nazi influence, with a slicked-back and very hard-lined look. He also touched on the challenges of keeping Han Solo and Leia’s costumes true to the original trilogy, plus some other Star Wars bits.

Source: Vanity Fair

Buster Hein

Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.