New exhibit at Detroit art museum takes visitors to a galaxy far, far away

What do yak hair and samurai helmets have to do with Star Wars? A new exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) explains all.

"Star Wars and the Power of Costume" opens Sunday at the Woodward Avenue institution.

DIA director Salvador Salort-Pons says some staff were hesitant when the idea of a Star Wars-themed show was proposed. 

"There was some questioning, because the museum has not done ... exhibitions about films," he said. "My belief [was] that we could ... this is an exhibition about the creative process and this is something that we talk [about] in our permanent collection all the time."

More than 60 original costumes from the first seven films are part of the exhibition. While developed by the Smithsonian Institution as a travelling exhibition, the DIA played a large role in determining how the pieces are displayed.

These big star-filled windows behind the iconic Vader costume, for example, were envisioned and built by DIA staff.

The DIA also made it a point to establish connections between the costumes and works in the rest of the museum.  

"Because we know so many of the costume designers were looking to inspiration from all over the world — including art history — we could connect this back with some of the objects that are in our permanent collection," explained Melanie Parker, an interpretive specialist at the DIA.

"Darth Vader's helmet is one," she said. "George Lucas  ... envisioned that Darth Vader would look like a samurai warrior ... so we've made a connection between a samurai helmet that we've acquired pretty recently for our Japanese art galleries."

"Star Wars and the Power of Costume" opens this Sunday, May 20th at the Detroit Institute of Arts in midtown Detroit. 

And if you're wondering about the connection to yak hair, nearly seven kilograms of the stuff were used to make the original Chewbacca costume.