Galactic Style Guide – Revealing Outfits

Welcome back to another installment of the Galactic Style Guide, the series where we break down the ‘Star Wars aesthetic’ in order to help You create a more authentic ‘outer persona’! While this series is normally geared at pointing out style elements that are widely and commonly represented in the galaxy, this month we’re taking a look at a ‘style’ which is comparatively un-common. Or perhaps I should say, while we have many examples of revealing outfits, after examining the complete sample, we will see that this style should really only be worn by a limited set of character types. (For our purposes here, I’m considering an outfit ‘revealing’ if it exposes some combination of arms, legs, or torso).

The Expanded Universe includes a number of examples as well:

Sunrider’s style might be explained by the early ’90s having a looser grasp of the overall galactic aesthetic, especially when dealing with the distant 4,000 BBY period (AND in a ‘lower-tier canon’ artform); ditto for Ming, who additionally came from a more isolated world. Secura has always been the anachronistic more-revealing Jedi, likely due to her being a Twi’lek (now there’s a whole species/gender-political can of worms I don’t want to open here). Note this image of Taanzer is from a brief period where she was serving as a slave of a crime lord (once liberated, she reverts back to her typical tanktop and/or midriff-baring style). It’s also worth pointing out and underlining that Brood, Tavion, and Talon’s costumes are quite divergent from the overall conservative Sith or Dark Jedi style.

Dark Horse’s Blue Harvest miniseries depicts a slightly higher percentage of scantily-clad characters, as much of the plot revolves around a brothel, and so both the sex workers (Nikollane and Tam) as well as the establishment’s Madam (Ember Chankeli) go about in much more revealing outfits than the standard galactic aesthetic. The non-human example is a female slave given by Chankeli to a local crime boss; the final example is a prostitute who attempts to proposition Tyco Celchu in Rogue Squadron #26.

Dark Horse’s Empire #19 features a sleazy information broker attempting to offer Darth Vader some of his ‘delicacies’, and wouldn’t you know it, they’re all scantily clad – including one from Naboo! Now, I’ve studied Naboo fashion more than most, and I can tell you one thing for sure: the Naboo pretty much never show skin (unless they’re seducing the Chosen One (see below); clearly this woman’s outfit is a result of extenuating circumstances (i.e. human trafficking).

The Prequel Trilogy further expanded the sample size, helping us draw some larger trends for these types of outfits:

It should be noted the first three individuals are all slaves; Bagwa is a waitress, Koyi Mateil is essentially a gold-digger, and Delva Racine is an eccentric high-fashion designer. Aurra Sing is the chief example who does not fit into one of our categories below; but she is also someone whose character (design and background) has been largely dictated by the Rule of Cool.

Interestingly, while Padme’s outfits are very modest throughout the Prequels, the only ones even slightly revealing come from the courtship (some might say seduction) stage of her relationship with Anakin Skywalker (I’ve opted not to include her white jumpsuit worn at Geonosis, as it was quite modest until being implausibly turned into a midriff-bearing outfit via nexu claws).

Two characters from the Prequels appear to be outliers among their Senatorial colleagues: Pampy first appeared in Episode I as an aide to Ryloth’s senator Orn Free Taa, and as we see here, she appears to be in constant danger of a wardrobe malfunction:

Considering most Senate-adjacent characters are usually draped in yards of layered fabric, Bana Breemu (senator from Humbarine) shows an unexpected amount of skin, while Pampy is a few centimeters away from a nip-slip! How shall we justify their costume designs? Something to do with positions of power giving some immunity to the Galaxy’s standard modest fashion sense?

One Prequel scene in particular displays a much higher concentration of characters with revealing outfits:

It should be noted that Ms. Agira’s navel tattoo is associated with the Zealots of Psusan, whose members (including Hentz above, and possibly Vess) wore similar markings.

So, what can we take away from all this?
Based on these examples, it should be clear that such immodest outfits are the exception rather than the rule in the Galaxy Far, Far Away, and that there are a limited number of scenarios or character types for whom such outfits are appropriate:

1. Downstrata sex worker, slave, indentured servant, or hanger-on of crime boss (literally every single scantily-clad being on Tatooine falls into this category)
2. Working-class working for tip money? (Bagwa and Roothes are a waitress and bartender respectively)
3. Middle-class(?) club goer, or for casual wear at home or aboard ship.
4. Upstrata: politicians, arts patrons, or general rich folk (especially when partying)
5. Religious cultist (Tavion, Brood, Hentz, Agira, Vess, Darth Talon)

Oh, and one other scenario that’s appropriate for all species and sexes: 😉
As usual, drop any examples I may have missed in the comments, and I’ll see you next month!

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