Mal costume Mals clothing
POSTED BY: swfreakjpb
UPDATED: Friday, September 23, 2005 13:47
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I would like to maybe do a Mal costume for when the movie comes out at least. Has anyone done this or know someone who has. Any ideas would be great. Probably not the Jacket or the holster as they would be to pricey. I know his Shirt changes from Green to maroon and maybe other colors, but what kind of Shirt. Boots? Pants I know are tan with Black stirpes, right? Suspenders, not sure what they look like. I am going to have to watch the DVDs a lot and figure some stuff out.
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Check this site for screen caps that should help you get a better idea for your Mal costume:
http://still-flying.net/images/
"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."
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Good luck, I was thinking of doing this for a Halloween party this year, with my wife going as Inara. I spent a lot of time looking around and came to the conclusion that it would be VERY expensive to get something together.
For the pants, I could not find ones with the stripe on them, but if you want to get it right, you need to buy suspender pants. Mal does not wear clip-on suspenders, but rather button suspenders, and those need the right kind of pants. I found the best selection using Amazon.com. Look under Mens clothing and search "suspender" or "suspender pants." The pants are pricey, and I could not believe the price of the suspenders themselves.
Dusters are pretty easy to find, but it was hard to find it in brown, I mostly found black or tan. Keep an eye on Ebay for coats, they seem to go for not too much money there, but try and stay away from Australian or outback dusters, they have a noticeably different cut.
Since you have time before the movie, I recommend keeping an eye on Ebay, and if you have any vintage clothing stores near you, check them out and get to know the owner so maybe they can keep a lookout for things that would be suitable and contact you.
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Actually a thought I had that I have yet to actually pursue is to get a "inexpensive" white doctor coat (lab coat), even a cheap one from a costume shop and dye it brown. Like I said I haven't tried it yet, but I think it would work. At least it would have "the look"
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The easy, generic way of finding this sort of thing is to go to the sites that specialize in "Cowboy Action Shooting" costumes. You can get dusters and hats and coats and shirts and pants and boots and gloves and a whole trunk full of this stuff. Obviously there are some that are high end expensive, and others that are cheaper and potentially less accurate.
The SASS site has a lot of links:
http://www.sassnet.com/Links-Main-001A.php
(down a bit to the clothing and accessories section)
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If you have a little skill with a sewing machine Simplicity Pattern #5023 ($16.95 retail--but who pays retail anymore) will get you the pants. It has a button fly, buttons for suspenders, the V-notch in the back at the waist, the buckle and strap across the back and the correct shape for the pockets. I used khaki colored, 100% cotton gabardine and pre-washed/pre-shrunk the fabric before cutting the pattern out. Be warned that there are about half a million pattern pieces. If you don't want to use 100% cotton, blends are available in the right color, too.
The brown stripe down the side is *REALLY* easy. Get brown, double-fold bias quilt-edging and iron out the center fold and one of the side folds. The stripe on Mal's pants stops at the waistband. So, pin the ironed-open edge to the the raw edge of the back leg pieces from waist to floor and baste in place within the seam allowance. Topstitch the other, still-folded edge from waist to floor. Then sew the side seams of the pants together and add the waistband, as per the instructions of the pattern. The buckle was the hardest notion to find, oddly enough.
I've decided I'm going to have to make my own pattern for the bracers/suspenders as nothing really close seems to be available on line. Even a lot of the leather ones have an elastic piece in the back to make them more comfortable to wear. I intend to reuse the leather parts from an old pair of suspenders and I think that heavy canvas will work just fine for the construction.
Boots--Mal wears black, knee-high, pull-on boots that appear to be round-/blunt-toed. He often wears his pants stuffed into them. They are not standard modern riding boots. Not sure where to get them and they are likely to be fairly expensive. Work/hiking boots--the plainer the better--are a good substitute.
Mal's shirts are pretty easy. They look like modern, long-sleeved, collared shirts (not dress shirts as the collars on dress shirts are too pointy). Also, the fabric looks like rough "homespun". Linen gets you the look of the fabric and a certain rumpledness. Denim is too heavy. As far as colors, go with dark red, washed-out dark blue, dark green maybe. Mal frequently wears his sleeves rolled up.
The coat--well, it is definitely leather. If you don't have ambitions to spend money on a hide and a sewing machine that can handle leather, skip the coat or go with a duster substitute. IIRC, someone on the board bought a tan/khaki colored duster and dyed it brown. If you do have ambitions and the proper equipment, I'll be happy to share what I have gleaned about the construction of the coat. The piecing actually produces a very efficient use of the hide, which is exactly what you want when you are using leather.
Ljosalf
The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.
Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922)
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Cool!!!! Thanks everyone for your ideas. Ljosalf, that's exactly the kind of hints I needed. I can't buy real stuff and I got a fellow costume friend who is good at making something out of almost nothing if you know what I mean. She's a genius. Hopefully I will be able to do this by the movie. She should be able to use your hints and make something pretty close. I usually stick to star wars, actually I only have one SW costume, but Firefly has inspired me. I like Han Solo so much I got his costume, Same with Mal, someday. They have a bit in common.
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Watch Wal-Mart, the get cheap fabric in often, can use a brown faux suede and a duster coat pattern.. and do it yourself or get friend to make it up.
The Journey is the worthier part.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Thornir:
Good luck, I was thinking of doing this for a Halloween party this year, with my wife going as Inara. I spent a lot of time looking around and came to the conclusion that it would be VERY expensive to get something together.
For the pants, I could not find ones with the stripe on them, but if you want to get it right, you need to buy suspender pants. Mal does not wear clip-on suspenders, but rather button suspenders, and those need the right kind of pants. I found the best selection using Amazon.com. Look under Mens clothing and search "suspender" or "suspender pants." The pants are pricey, and I could not believe the price of the suspenders themselves.
Dusters are pretty easy to find, but it was hard to find it in brown, I mostly found black or tan. Keep an eye on Ebay for coats, they seem to go for not too much money there, but try and stay away from Australian or outback dusters, they have a noticeably different cut.
Since you have time before the movie, I recommend keeping an eye on Ebay, and if you have any vintage clothing stores near you, check them out and get to know the owner so maybe they can keep a lookout for things that would be suitable and contact you.
Not necessarily true.
I wore a Mal costume to Dragon Con this year. Here is the breakdown in cost:
Brown coat: $150.00
pants: $9.99
bias tape for stripe on pants: $2.00
buttons for suspender conversion: $2.00
suspenders: $13.00
leather holster (used): $9.95
prop Mal Gun (wood): free (made by friend)
western style shirt: $9.95
boots: already owned
Total: $196.89 (plus applicable tax of course)
As you can see the coat was the bulk of the cost. The pants and shirt I got at Target on the clearance racks. I converted the pants by removing the belt loops and sewing on the buttons for the suspenders myself. I also sewed on the brown bias tape for the striping on the outside of the pants legs.
The suspenders were bought off of Ebay for $13.00 including S&H. They are leather and of a western style for reenactors. Though not an exact match for Mal's they were close. The holster was also purchased from Ebay, and its used condition made it look as if it were old and worn, so it didn't look brand new, but rather like it had been around the Verse awhile.
The gun, a wooden prop made for me as a gift by my first convert was free, unless you count the $5 in materials and time my friend spent making it. It is a gorram fine piece of work for a wooden mock up and it completed my costume rather nicely.
If you look around on clearance racks, check Ebay, and perhaps thrift stores, a costume does not have to set you back too much.
"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."
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I posted this after Dragon*con, but since it's come up again. I met some guys and girls from a company that makes replicas of costumes from popular shows/movies i.e. Matrix etc. WWW.Abbyshot.com for more info. I've since been in contact with them, I sent 19 Screen caps of Mal's coat and they have expressed interest in getting these done at least by next D*C, but more importantly, they hope to have them by the movie premire. could be pricey though. But it would be 100% accurate from what I've seen of their work.
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