Galactic Style Guide – Shirts I

Welcome back to the Galactic Style Guide, where we break down the ‘Star Wars aesthetic’ in order to help you create a more Galaxy-accurate ‘outer persona’! It should be pointed out that it’s often very difficult to determine a character’s base layer, due to layering being such a key part of the galactic aesthetic. I was excited at first to dig through the character portraits in the New Essential Guide to Characters, but quickly ran into this issue. Because I want to include as many examples as possible, our deep dive into upper-body garments will have to be a multi-part entry; I’ve done my best to follow the directions of the original concept:

“[John Mollo] broke down the characters into general costume themes: peasant costumes (Russo-Japanese); Western/U.S. cavalry/motorcycle looks; Nazi-style uniforms/armor/cloaks; space technology-type outfits; ladies’ mock-medieval/Tarzan attire; semi-monsters with armor; and full monsters.” (Star Wars Costumes – The Original Trilogy, 16).

We’ll begin with the so-called Russian/Japanese ‘peasant’ style. Note that these are pretty much all from Tatooine.

The civilians of Nadiem are pretty consistently depicted wearing peasant tunics during the Clone Wars: (Hide in Plain Sight)

Note above that the peasant style is apparently also used in-universe as a hospital gown, as Luke Skywalker wears one aboard the Redemption while receiving his replacement hand.

As an honorable mention in this category, we might include Rogue Squadron’s dress uniform:

As many have discussed before, the belted gi-style tunic worn by many ‘peasants’ is also a key element in the ‘uniform’ of nearly every onscreen Jedi, and so remains an indispensable style for blending into the galactic underclass. Take notes, anyone wishing to portray an on-the-run Jedi!

Note that all are V-necked; unless the shirt is made of a knit and stretchy material, a slit neck-hole is necessary to admit the head freely. Kal Fas’ shirt appears to have a contrasting stripe down the arm as well as triangular designs applied to the upper chest—not something normally seen.
Jennir’s top in the Blue Harvest arc (bottom center) has a turn-down collar, poofy sleeves, and a deep V, very similar to a typical 18th century man’s shirt, which would make a good starting point for sewing your own.
Note also that the shirts in the first row actually include visible buttons—normally verboten per Lucas’ design instructions—and while I can excuse the Katarn example for being from a mid-90s LucasArts cutscene, it is surprising that they managed to sneak onto a main character in a Lucas-directed Saga film!

“George didn’t want any fastenings to show, he didn’t want to see buttons, he didn’t want to see zips, so we used stuff like Velcro, and things were just wrapped over and tied with a belt, …Ben Kenobi’s shirt is very much Russian.” – John Mollo, quoted in The Making of Star Wars (J.W. Rinzler), p. 125.

In the bottom row we have examples of a modern variant on the classic double-breasted shirt, which seems only to have appeared in post-Disney sources.
If you would like to try your hand at sewing a shirt along these lines, and don’t want to try tracking down a vintage McCall’s #7760 to modify, a free pattern is available for download here.

Did I leave anyone out? Let me know in the comments, or chime in at the Star Wars Living History facebook group! Until next months’ installment!

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