The November 1977 issue of US Vogue featured one of the most delightfully bizarre, high-camp crossovers in fashion history: “The Force of Fur,” photographed by Eisuke Ishimuro and styled by Jade Hobson.
Just months after Star Wars became a global phenomenon, George Lucas agreed to let Lucasfilm characters including Darth Vader, C-3PO, Stormtroopers, Jawas, and Snaggletooth pose alongside rising supermodel Jerry Hall and Maria Hanson to showcase the winter season’s most luxurious, over-the-top fur coats and fine jewelry.
Ishimuro deliberately moved away from traditional, atmospheric editorial lighting to match the graphic, sci-fi origins of the film. As he later reflected on his approach: “Since Star Wars heavily relied on visual effects, we thought the photographs should be simple and direct. I lit them to look two-dimensional and almost comic strip–like.”
The result was an 8-page layout featuring sharp, saturated, high-contrast images where the iconic characters functioned essentially as surreal, otherworldly accessories.
While the published spread featured polished frames of Jerry Hall modeling massive chinchilla and fox furs next to a rigid C-3PO or a towering Darth Vader, the behind-the-scenes outtakes and candid moments reveal a much looser, more playful energy on set.
The shoot took place over several days in Los Angeles. In those days,
said Hobson, “editors carried the shoot with them. I don’t know how many trunks were on this shoot, but you can imagine, and my plane was met by some Brink’s people who kept [them] and would deliver them to the studio each day.”
Who was the most high-maintenance member of the crew? It wasn’t the glamorous Hall, whom Hobson describes as someone who “just loved clothes and dressing up and did her best to show the clothes.” Rather, it was that C-3PO. But not because he was throwing ’tude. It took hours to harness him into his costume, which could be worn only for a short time because, Hobson said, “it just got too hot.”
