Although, historically, the armor might have been more colorful, Dickson de-saturated the tones to be consistent with the film’s palette, explaining that, "Traditionally, Samurai armor was individual and idiosyncratic. We tried to incorporate elements that best suited each character. For example, Katsumoto’s battle dress, a black outer shell over an elaborately embroidered black, gold and gray kimono featuring a pattern of his native valley’s flowers, is the most detailed and elegant, signifying his stature as a leader. It’s important that Katsumoto’s armor is perceived as ancient because this is his choice. In truth, he a
nd his men would not be wearing Samurai armor at all during this period. But, in rejecting the modern ways, he has returned to the past and so donned this ancient uniform as a deliberate statement. We stripped out the color based on the point of view that this group of Samurai choose to wear their ancestors’ armor."
Dickson’s 80-member team worked throughout a 14-month period to meet the film’s wardrobe needs. "Overall," she says, "there were more than 2,000 costumes made, to cover scenes as diverse as a San Francisco Convention, the Japanese Imperial Army and Samurai on the battlefield, village life, flashbacks to the American Indian wars and Japanese street scenes." She pauses to consider the math before concluding, "We had costumes coming out of our ears."
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