Galactic Style Guide – Vests I

Welcome back to the Galactic Style Guide, our monthly series in which we break down the ‘Star Wars aesthetic’ in order to create a more authentic ‘outer persona’! This time around, we’re looking at a key element introduced by the very first non-droid Star Wars characters ever seen onscreen:
Yes, we’re talking VESTS! Since they are so prevalent and we have so many examples to discuss, we’ll be devoting two entries to them. Original costume designer John Mollo had a pretty simple reason for giving the Rebel ‘fleet troopers’ (and many other characters) vests – visual interest! “‘The waistcoats look a bit more businesslike and give them a bit of texture,’ he says. ‘They would have been a bit boring if they had just been wearing a gray overall suit.’” (Alinger, Star Wars Costumes – the Original Trilogy. p 22).

If you’re behind the times, please note that the screen-used Rebel Fleet Trooper vest auctioned in 2017 boasted a whopping ELEVEN pockets, most of them entirely pointless or impractical! (As they say, go big or go home.):
We’ll continue with vests used by the Rebel Alliance.

Note that vests are worn by pretty much everyone in Echo Base, as they effectively help insulate the body’s core to help prevent hypothermia…Beedo’s is simply a vest of Farr’s style that has been dyed ‘Rodian orange’.

If you’re into such things, here are some post-Disney examples:

And just for fun, I’ll throw in the vest Luke is depicted wearing on the cover of Shadows of the Empire (1996); although it is quite clearly a fishing vest, the diagonally-quilted sections help make it feel like it might fit in the GFFA:
If I’ve missed any vested Rebel characters or if there’s an obscure example I ought to include in next month’s installment, please let me know in the comments below. Until then!

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