Unless you regularly cosplay or attend various cons, then Halloween is really your only opportunity to dress up like your favorite fictional character and not look like a total weirdo on your morning commute. This Halloween, as with every Halloween since Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope was released in 1977, Star Wars themed costumes are going to be all the rage, especially with last December's hit The Force Awakens and the upcoming release of Rogue One. With the world of Star Wars expanding so quickly, it's only natural you'd want to dress up as your favorite new character this Halloween, and if you're anything like me, that character is Poe Dameron. Besides giving you butterflies, Poe Dameron is one of the most easily recognizable characters from the new Star Wars film — at the very least, he has the brightest costume. Here's how to create your own Poe Dameron costume for Halloween.
Now, Poe Dameron has two distinct looks in The Force Awakens: one when he's captured by Kylo Ren and one being his pilot's uniform. It's more likely that people will recognize a Poe Dameron in his pilot's uniform come Halloween, not because of it's bright orange color (though that will certainly help) but because Finn spends a majority of the film wearing the same outfit Poe wears when he's captured. If you're dressed as Poe Dameron pre-rescue, you're basically dressing as Finn post-escape, which is essentially just Finn. Granted, dressing as Poe Dameron in his hot leather jacket and dark pants (we can call this the relaxed Poe look) can be done, it just needs a few extra accessories to ensure that the costume is distinguished from Finn — see here.
The pilot's helmet identifies this cosplayer as a Poe Dameron immediately, but, for the sake of clarity, in this post we'll be focusing on pilot Poe Dameron. So, if you were hoping to be pilot Poe Dameron from The Force Awakens for Halloween, here's everything you need to do it, listed from most to least important.
1. An Orange Jumpsuit
Red Kap Overalls, $28, Working Person's Store
Obviously the key to the Poe Dameron pilot look is that bright orange jumpsuit, like this pair of Red Kap coveralls, available at Working Person's Store. Now, if that sounds steep for a costume you might only wear once, remember that an orange jumpsuit can always be repurposed as a prison outfit if you want to go for an Orange is the New Black theme next year. Bonus: WorkingPerson.com offers custom embroidery, which means you could make the costume as detailed as you want.
2. A White Vest
Womens Quilted Vest, $20, Amazon
To replicate Poe Dameron's white vest you have two options: the first is to buy a cheap puffy vest. This one is from Amazon. The second option, however, might be easier depending on how detailed you want your outfit to look, and that's going to your local fabric store, buying some white cloth and sewing it on to your jumpsuit, for which you will need cloth, scissors, a needle, thread, and some minimum amount of skill using sharp objects.
If you don't have that skill, I would suggest grabbing a couple blank pieces of paper from your printer and taping them onto your orange jumpsuit — or, if you're really desperate, just ditching the white vest detail all together. You can make up for it with other accessories.
3. At Least One Rebel Alliance Symbol
Red Rebel Alliance Symbol, $7, Amazon
As a member of the Resistance, Poe Dameron's uniform features the Rebel Alliance symbol embroidered on his jumpsuit/vest, as well as painted onto his pilot's helmet. Depending on your personal preference, you can go with a Rebel Alliance Patch, like this red one from Amazon, or a set of stickers or decals.
Rebel Alliance Symbol, $9, Amazon
This set of three from Amazon is great because you get enough to put on your various accessories.
4. A Helmet
An actual Poe Dameron cosplay helmet would probably cost you a pretty penny, leaving you with a few options. 1) Forget the helmet and stick with the Rebel Alliance patches instead. 2) Splurge on an official helmet, or 3) make one yourself. For the DIY Poe Dameron helmet, here's what you'll need:
Soft Air US Army Hat, $17, Amazon
One, plain black helmet, like this one from Amazon.
Red Electrical Tape, $4, Amazon
Red tape, like this electrical tape from Amazon, to decorate your helmet, adding a touch of color.
And one or two red Rebel Alliance decal, like this one from Amazon, to match the color scheme and design.
5. Suspenders, Belts And/Or Packing Straps
Poe has a lot of straps and contraptions hanging down the front of his uniform. To replicate the look, just pick up any belts or suspenders you have. But, if you don't have belts or suspenders, you can also get a pack of moving straps from Amazon and DIY to your heart's content.
6. A Gun
This is when we get to the more unnecessary items, but that could make your costume more detailed if you like. Pilot Poe doesn't use a gun when he's in the air, making the blaster rifle he uses early in the film unnecessary for the costume. That said, if you want to go the extra mile, but don't want to spend money buying an official toy gun, there are plenty of DIY options. For those detail-oriented among you, there are plenty of DIY blaster tutorials online — like this one from Instructables — but if you're craft-challenged like me, I'd suggest just printing out a photo of the gun, gluing that onto some cardboard and, voila!
7. BB-8
Poe and BB-8 are BFFs, and BB-8 is Poe's in-flight companion, so it would make sense for you to have your own BB-8 with you on Halloween. However, getting an actual droid is difficult, and no one wants to carry a BB-8 robot behind them all night. As an alternative, I suggest getting a BB-8 patch to go on your jumpsuit
Blue Heron Star Wars Patch, $4, Amazon
This 3-inch one is from from Amazon.
And, that's it. Now, get out there and be the best Poe Dameron you can be!
Images: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (4); Amazon (7); Working Person; Giphy
