Escoffiate

Escoffiate
Production information
Type	Royal headpiece
Culture	Naboo
Owners	Padmé Amidala
Physical and technical specifications
Color	Dark brown, golden, red, and brown
Material(s)	Hair Gemstones Gold Orichalc
Usage and history
Affiliation	Royal House of Naboo

An escoffiate headpiece was worn by Queen Padmé Amidala of Naboo with her Senate gown for a speech in the Galactic Senate. Symbolic of the Naboo culture, her escoffiate incorporated the Royal Sovereign of Naboo medal, a wig styled to resemble guarlara horns with golden hairbands and hairtip ornaments, and a cap with orichalc finework suspensas.

Description

Queen Padmé Amidala of the planet Naboo owned an escoffiate headpiece. Her escoffiate incorporated the Royal Sovereign of Naboo medal in the center of a dark brown wig that was divided and styled to resemble the horns of a guarlara creature, with a smaller amount of hair gathered behind her head. Red and blue gemstones studded the golden hairbands that encircled the gathered hair. The ends of the two "horns" were accented with grand finial hairtip ornaments, cylindrical in shape and colored red with gold filigree. Her close-fitting gold cap had the Symbol of the Royal House of Naboo centered on her forehead and orichalc finework suspensas attached above her temples; the gold-colored rope chains dangled to the same length as the hairtip ornaments to frame her face.

History

In 32 BBY, Queen Amidala wore an escoffiate to address the Galactic Senate on the galactic capital Coruscant after her homeworld was invaded by the Trade Federation. Worn in conjunction with her Senate gown, her attire expressed the Naboo culture through the regal trappings of the Royal House of Naboo, but it also helped her to maintain her stoic composure.

Behind the scenes

"We felt this headdress was worth the effort, weight and expense of having real gold."

―Trisha Biggar, costume designer

Padmé Amidala's escoffiate first appeared in the 1999 prequel trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. In the new Star Wars canon, the escoffiate was first identified in the 2017 reference book Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia', which was written by Adam Bray, Cole Horton, and Tricia Barr. In the Star Wars Legends continuity, the name was first used in the 1999 reference book Star Wars: Episode I The Visual Dictionary, written by David West Reynolds.

Artist Iain McCaig conceptualized the design and the finished headdress was realized by costume designer Trisha Biggar and the costume department. The design was inspired by Mongolian headdresses. It was first made in copper using electroforming, then gold-plated with real gold to achieve the right quality of color. The film's marketing featured the Senate costume and headdress, such as on the sides of buses.

Appearances

• Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace (First appearance)

Sources

• Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia (First identified as escoffiate)
• Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition
• Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition (Picture only)

Notes and references

In other languages

• Nederlands