Galactic Style Guide – Hats I

Welcome back to another installment of the Galactic Style Guide, where we break down the ‘Star Wars aesthetic’ in order to help you create a more authentic ‘outer persona’! For this month’s installment, we’re taking things from the top and talking Hats!
Our main cast of characters tend to go hatless, but for secondary and background characters, hats are very commonplace. While certain styles tend to work better with certain settings, covering your head in some way is a great way to remind your audience that you are portraying an inhabitant of the Galaxy Far Far Away.
When I put a call out to the SWLH facebook group for style suggestions, the immediate first response was ‘Caps with flaps!’. As this type of hat is readily available as military surplus, such hats are a no-brainer way to make yourself quickly blend into the galactic populace:

It’s worth pointing out that the hats of the Hoth hangar techs are essentially a WW2 US Navy deck hat, so if you’re handy with a sewing machine, stick around at the end for a free pattern.

If you’re into drawing on post-Disney resources, many of the Rebel commandos at ‘Scarif’ wear Hoth-pattern hats in brown, and they frequently show up in crowd scenes on The Mandalorian–especially Chapter 9, where they’re somewhat anachronistically overused on Tatooine: a good lesson in making sure all parts of your ensemble make sense for your chosen location!

Unlike our first category, the next examples skew closer to everyday modern styles, and so probably should not be relied upon as a signifier of a GFFA impression. They’re great for adding a touch of GFFA to your regular wardrobe however!

Note that Booster Terrick wears what appears to be a standard brown cadet cap…but with plenty of greeblies! (the built-in earmuff and cybernetic eye also helps 😉 FWIW, a very close ‘inspired by’ male technician hat is being sold at Galaxy’s Edge for $28, though I hear they run small and aren’t adjustable; also the patch on the front is an orange starbird, instead of the accurate design:

I first came across the Rebel (communications?) technicians in Alinger’s SWCOT where they are first mentioned in the scenes aboard Home One in Episode VI, but on a recent re-watch of Episode IV I noticed that the first group Luke, Han, and Chewie pass on their way to receive their medals are all wearing this type of hat, showing they were worn as early as 0 BBY:

Another easy way to add some GFFA style to your wardrobe—or help better ground an impression in the GFFA—is with a ‘floppy’ hat. Note that these are a little larger than your standard ‘Gilligan’ bucket—and also always in earthtones. Goggles are not required, but they do help!

I wanted to finish up this installment with a reminder that in-universe headgear doesn’t necessarily need to be complicated. As long as you’ve done your research and the rest of your outfit commits to the galactic aesthetic, you may be able to get away with wearing something as simple as a bandana or cloth hood. Of course, you should make sure that your choice of headwear is well-made using authentic materials, and aligns with both the setting and your persona’s social class…a hat that’s appropriate for a night at the opera doesn’t work if your character is an undercover spy on a backwater planet! When in doubt, the simple cloth turban or headwrap is criminally underutilized.

As promised, click here for a pattern for a US Navy deck hat, size 7.5. Print so that the squares are 1″/2.5cm and sew on the inner line (it should be about a 1/4″ seam allowance).

What sorts of hats should I include in next month’s installment? Leave a comment below or come discuss in the SWLH facebook group 🙂 Until next time!

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