Shawna Trpcic(1966-2023)

Shawna Trpcic was a three-time Emmy nominee and winner of the Costume Designers Guild Award in 2022. She began her career after being encouraged by a teacher to pursue art (rather than becoming a truck driver which had been her first choice) and proceeded to study fashion at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. During her senior year, she worked with the acclaimed costumier and fashion designer Bob Mackie (who had himself once been mentored by the legendary Edith Head).

Trpcic began in films in 1990, first as an illustrator, then as wardrobe supervisor and assistant costume designer. Having found her métier in science fiction, she declared "I love working in sci-fi and fantasy because there are no rules as far as adhering to an already established style of a certain time period, but I truly love designing a character, no matter the setting." As a costume designer in her own right she was billed under her birth name (Leavell) until 1993. Her best early work was in conjunction with Joss Whedon, notably on the TV shows Firefly (2002), Angel (1999) and Dollhouse (2009). Latterly, Trpcic enjoyed an equally successful collaboration with Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni on the Lucasfilm productions The Mandalorian (2019), The Book of Boba Fett (2021) and Ahsoka (2023). According to Filoni, Trpcic had a "deep love and appreciation for Star Wars". She was reputed to have been fastidious in her research of techniques used in the making of earlier Star Wars films to create as authentic a look as possible, for instance "trying to find fabrics that were familiar in the 'Star Wars' universe, but use them in a more modern tech-looking way."

Shawna Trpcic died unexpectedly on October 4 2023, aged just 56.