"He's very clear about his ideas," says Love, describing her working relationship with director George Lucas. "He explained it very well -- it's more of that old Hollywood glamour. People get confused and think 'space age and futuristic,' but it's not. It's actually completely the other way around. All the costumes and the hair, there's a period feel to them. So, I reference old films when I work."

Concept illustrations and notes start the process, and Love experiments with all manner of coifs and dos. She works mainly with acrylic hair, stretched or wrapped around lightweight templates covered with canvas. "We try to keep it very lightweight," she explains. The wigs and hairpieces are often built atop casts of the actors face, so that everything can be seen in context. It is these pieces that are approved, and then actually are fitted to the actors.

As a result, very rarely are we looking at the actor's actual hair -- especially if it's a rather elaborate set-up. Often, the actor's hair is either completely obscured by a wig, or built upon and incorporated into the piece. "Hayden Christensen had short hair when he first arrived, so we had to just trim it a little bit. We added the braid, which is tied to a little bit of his own hair. We sew the ponytail on the back."

A particular challenge is maintaining the pieces in the changing climates of location shooting. "It's a battle," says Love. "It's all the different temperatures. When we were at Lake Como, it poured rain, and Natalie Portman had her long curls which don't go very well in the rain. It was a constant battle to keep curling it up all the time, and to keep it looking the same. Then, the mornings in Tunisia are very, very humid. If I took her hairpiece out, all those lovely curls would just go straight."