Lizzo's Wardrobe In The Mandalorian Pays Homage To A Star Wars Royal
If there's one thing the Naboo Queen-Senator Padmé Amidala has taught us in the "Star Wars" galaxy, you're not a true politician unless you're worthy of the fashion runway. Her iconic prequel trilogy wardrobe (from costume designer Trisha Biggar, with designs conceived by Iain McCaig) blazed a fashion trail for her fellow galactic politicians — and cosplayers at Star Wars Celebration.
"The Mandalorian" season 3 continues Padmé's fashionista legacy by introducing a regentess played by singer Lizzo (who herself graces the concert stage as a dancing and flute-playing fashion icon). In season 3, episode 6 "Guns for Hire," Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), his adorable foundling Grogu, and Lady Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) venture to Plazir-15 where they are greeted by its lavish regents, the Duchess and Captain Bombardier (Jack Black). The Mandalorians — save for the enchanted Grogu — find themselves weirded out by the upper-crust atmosphere and out of place in their beskar armor.
If you were shocked by the "Star Wars" casting of Lizzo and comedian legend Black as a royal couple, you might miss another shock: the Duchess's wardrobe mirroring the apparel of someone close to Bo-Katan Kryze.
The layers of a nicer Queen of Hearts
Under the watchful eye of costume designer Shawna Trpcic, Lizzo's dress flutters with a confluence of pop culture. Trpcic arranges the transparent sashes on Lizzo's torso into the shape of a heart, which pays its respects to the Queen of Hearts in adaptational interpretations of Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." Not only does this add to the peculiar vibe of this "The Mandalorian" chapter, but the cooler blueness of the Duchess's dress serves as an antithesis to the Queen of Hearts' reddish and fiery temperament to highlight the Duchess's easygoing manners.
Viewers of "The Clone Wars" cartoon can especially discern that Lizzo's satin Duchess costume resembles the regal velvety gown of Bo-Katan's estranged sister, the Mandalorian Duchess Satine Kryze (voiced by Anna Graves) who first appeared in season 2, episode 12 "The Mandalorian Plot." Like Satine's dress, Lizzo's gown flows with dark blue mingling with purple and teal. Lizzo's fabulous holo peacock tail also matches the pearly gradients of Satine's head adornments, the horned earrings and the bell-flowery headdress. Through the Duchess's sliver spangled sleeves, Trpcic also sneaks in a homage to Lizzo's Versace crystal outfit at the 2020 Grammy Awards. So it's a proper mash-up of Lizzo and "Star Wars" fantasy.
Satine Kryze's fashion and pacifist legacy
Like her pal Padmé and her Art Nouveau-inspired flair, Duchess Satine Kryze ruled with style in her navy blue throne gown. As a regent of Mandalore during "The Clone Wars," she fought tirelessly for a pacifist system that doffed the warrior practices and the beskar armor. The extremist armored Mandalorian warrior faction Death Watch — which Bo-Katan was once a part of — did not take kindly to Satine's forbidding warrior culture. It's safe to assume that Satine's royal dress adheres to the sensibilities of the New Mandalorian pacifist movement. Likely during her youth and Death Watch membership, Bo-Katan would turn her nose up against her sister's fashion.
When Death Watch imprisoned Satine Kryze and dominated Mandalore, Bo-Katan underwent a drastic change of heart when she witnessed Maul defeat and behead her Death Watch commander in an honor duel. Breaking from the now Maul-led Death Watch, Bo decided to free her estranged sister. Though Bo-Katan and Satine found themselves having a short-lived warm reunion, they never got to save Mandalore together due to Satine's assassination in Maul's grip.
Lizzo's gown also underlines how Satine has not been explicitly brought up in "The Mandalorian" (so far), likely not to clutter up Bo-Katan's crowded backstory. In fact, the domed kingdom of Plazir-15 echoes Satine's dreams for Mandalore. Plazir-15's domed city is surrounded by healthy green forests. In stark contrast, a wasteland surrounds the domed Mandalorian capital of Sundari due to the excess of Mandalorian civil wars.
The Kryze sisterhood that never was
While it's never remarked upon in "The Mandalorian," Bo-Katan might harbor some funny feelings seeing a Duchess wearing finery so much like her late sister's. "Guns for Hire" concludes with Djarin and Kryze earning the gratitude of the Duchess, who is more than happy to advocate for Mandalore's independence from the New Republic. This tracks with Satine's legacy, who fought for Mandalore's independence from the Republic.
Viewers of "The Clone Wars" can sense that Bo-Katan's bereavement for Satine drives this lifelong vow: Mandalorians who fight Mandalorian are doomed and therefore doom any reparations for the fractured Mandalore homeworld. By "Star Wars Rebels" and "The Mandalorian," Kryze believes that spilling Mandalorian blood must be avoided at all cost, even in a customary duel. While this may weaken her credibility in the eyes of more dogmatic Mandalorians, she recognizes it as a radical and necessary step to rebuild Mandalore. Thus, she does not slay Axe Woves in an honor duel, nor does she ever challenge Din Djarin, not even when he held the Darksaber she coveted.
A little bit of Satine rubbed off onto Bo-Katan. "The Clone Wars" implies that Bo wished she allied with her Duchess sister rather than fought her. In a better world, the sisters would have formalized a truce, with Bo-Katan in her beskar armor and Satine in her billowing blue gown. Who would have thought the meaning of a bygone Mandalorian sisterhood would have been woven into a Lizzo's gown?