Padme‘s blue Senate Gown can be seen right at the beginning of Ep II. Next to the white „Arena Outfit“ and her „Lake Gown“, it is one of my favourite outfits from the movies. She wears it in the counsel scene after the attempted assassination and when she meats Obi-wan and Ananakin in her rooms.
If you still do not know which costume I am talking about, visit padawanansguide. She has a great amount of screencaps and other material on the dress. However, it is called „Purple Senate“ there. http://padawansguide.com/purple.shtml
At the same time, padawansguide is my most important source for information on the gown. In addition, I would like to link to Kay-Dee’s costume page, which is great and contains a lot of information on the making-of process. http://kay-dee.net/costumes/purple/index.htm
When I first saw Ep II in 2005, I started looking for information in ordert o make the dress myself. However, I had barely any experience in sewing, so I never did it. In spring 2008, I had some lessons on sewing. Now it is 2016 and I finally want to make the dress I wanted for almost ten years.
Due tot he pages linked above, the style of the dress goes back tot he Elizabethan fashion, but adds some other cultural influences. It combines velvet, silk taffetta, complicated underpinnings and a lot of small extras into a huge outfit.
I started this WIP in the beginning of August and would like to finish it till the 24th/25th of September in the same years. Still some weeks to go, but i am not sure whether I can finish it in time.
Update: 8th July 2017
Because I felt stressed about this huge project, I did not work on it for several months. However, I want to continue this dream of mine and would like to wear it to this year’s convention.
Update: 19th September 2018
I feel strange to promise again that I want to finish it this year, because obviously, I am not good at working on this project for more than a few weeks. But I will try my best and in fact, it is coming together.
Update: 15th March 2019
By uploading the last photos, I officially finished this project! I am very proud, because it took (with breaks) about two and a half years to complete.
Back to the Senate Main Page
Further reading: Page 2