Project Runway: Style Wars

As any fashion-savvy Star Wars fan knows, each character brings a certain sense of style to the films -- from Princess Leia and her classic hairstyle or Darth Vader and his intimidating black helmet. So it's not surprising that some of the most innovative designers -- most notably the contestants on the hit Bravo reality TV show "Project Runway" -- find themselves inspired by the myriad of costumed characters in a galaxy far, far away.

Designers Daniel Vosovic, Andrae Gonzalo, Kara Janx, Daniel Franco, Diana Eng and Raymundo Baltazar -- whose challenges on "Project Runway" span from creating new looks for Barbie as well as Olympic skater Sasha Cohen, to designing last-minute couture using real plants and the clothes off their very backs -- had plenty to say about the saga that fed their imaginations with images of Jedi robes, Sith capes, stormtrooper armor, and regal gowns.

Gonzalo

Franco

Vosovic

Janx

Baltazar

Eng

"I have a million bizarre Star Wars memories," Andrae Gonzalo says. "Like when my father convinced my sister to tolerate her treatment for psoriasis as a child by telling her that she was wearing a special Princess Leia outfit to bed. This consisted of applying heavy cream moisturizer on her legs, covering them in tin foil, and wrapping them in plastic wrap. Would you believe I was jealous? Another funny Star Wars memory for me happened when my mother used to get complimented on the fake fur coat that she used to wear around the same time that Return of the Jedi was released. When people asked her what kind of fur it was, she'd always say, 'Ewok.'"

But not all Gonzalo's Star Wars memories were warm and fuzzy. "There was also the fact that I was paralyzed with fear by the thought that Yoda would come out of my closet in the middle of the night," Gonzalo continues. "We were the same height at the time, and I was terrified of him then!"

For Daniel Vosovic, his earliest Star Wars memory was also a bit stressful. "When I was younger, I used to have a reccurring nightmare where my father and I are running through the woods and we're as small as Ewoks," Vosovic recalls. "And a huge AT-AT from the Hoth battle is chasing us (I don't know why the AT-AT is in the woods, but it is). My dad trips and falls on this huge root and I go back to help him up, and as I look up at the AT-AT foot coming down to crush us, I wake up. I used to have that dream over and over again for years. So it's not exactly the fondest memory."

Luckily Vosovic has a few other happier Star Wars memories to balance out the painful AT-AT visions. "I got Wicket as a stuffed animal when I was a kid after seeing Return of the Jedi, and I loved it, and that started my appreciation for Star Wars," Vosovic says. "I definitely had my share of Star Wars toys. I had five or six of the actual action figures, but all my little buddies in the neighborhood had different ones, so we'd all stockpile them together and have a huge battle."

Action figures and vehicle models also sparked the imagination of fellow designer Daniel Franco. "I owned many, many Star Wars toys; I knew quality when I saw it -- even then," Franco says. "I knew Tonka and Galactica wouldn't cut it. My Millennium Falcon was my favorite along with my TIE fighter and X-wing close in the running. Those designs were so advanced for my adolescent eyes and mind, but I knew at a gut artistic level that these toys were shaping my vision and they did. The now familiar opening titles and music also catapulted me into sci-fi love forever. Looking back, I knew then that I would have futurist elements in my art."

As a self-proclaimed "Fashion Nerd" it seems Diana Eng may have the most significantly personal connection with the films than most of her fellow designers. "My parents had a picture of R2-D2 on my birth announcement," Diana Eng laughs. "So that was my first Star Wars encounter."

Just as every designer has their own style, it's clear that each film in the original trilogy strikes a different chord with the designers individually. "I was a fan from the start, but The Empire Strikes Back really sealed it for me," Franco says. "I was a bit older by then -- maybe 8. But I would go see the movie over and over, like 25 times in a neighborhood theater. It was the intrigue between Han and Leia, and of course Yoda came into play. That was the start of my mind opening up to other possibilities spiritually. I'm a major Joseph Campbell fan -- that's where my motto 'Follow your Bliss' comes from. I know George Lucas had deep respect for him as well, and for him to help bring those concepts to light so that an 8 year-old could understand it is beautiful storytelling."

"Empire affected me the most because at the end the heroes are not as well off as they were in the beginning," Kara Janx recalls. "So I remember crying for them to mount a comeback that wouldn't happen until the next film!"

"Return of the Jedi made me a fan of the saga," Vosovic says. "I was so young when I saw it that I don't think I fully got it, but I remember it playing in the house. I fell in love with the mystery and fantasy of it all."

"I really loved the original trilogy, and I probably didn't know this at the time, but I think it had to do with the Luke Skywalker character," Gonzalo explains. "Growing up gay and not macho, I think Luke appealed to me because a) I had a crush on Mark Hamill, and b) I often felt small and unimportant, with these creative talents and aspirations that I didn't quite know how to pursue or use in an advantageous way. Thanks to a series of real-life Ben Kenobis in my life, and certain teachers at school, it sort of awakened the power of the Force within me, and brought me to the place where I do what I do today."