Galactic Style Guide – Footwear I

Welcome back to another installment of the Galactic Style Guide, the monthly series where we break down the ‘Star Wars aesthetic’ in order to help you create a more authentic ‘outer persona’! It’s taken us a few years to get here, but in this entry, we’re finally taking a look at the one element a good costume literally stands upon – shoes! There’s a lot to unpack here, so our first two entries will look at live-action sources, and the third will cover visual examples from EU sources.

I’ve done my best to break these down by category, but my research library is far from exhaustive!; these are mostly drawn from the Complete Visual Dictionary (DK) and Alinger’s SWCOT. (Even if I could afford a copy, Trisha Biggar’s Dressing a Galaxy is not as useful for those of us interested in ‘common’ galactic folk…plus, the prevalence of characters wearing long robes means we don’t often see any footwear anyway!).
Let’s get started by looking at what it seems just about everybody wears in the Galactic Civil War era:

I didn’t include them here (because…y’know, space-fascism), but I should note that most ranking Imperials wear similar boots. If you’re portraying a character in the Civil War period, you really can’t go wrong with something tall, black, and shiny!

Tall boots are also seen frequently in Episodes I-III, though brown boots are seen with perhaps equal representation.

_{*Is it just me, or does it look like Ms. Bagwa has her boots on the wrong feet? I’ve always thought so. Or maybe Susie Porter is just pigeon-toed?}
Our next category is a sort of catch-all for roughly knee-high boots with any added details.

If you can’t get your hands on tall boots, don’t worry – there are other options!
Quality, knee-high, equestrian boots can be somewhat tricky to find, and are often at a higher price (and they’re less comfortable, to boot!). One option for the budget-conscious GFFA reenactor is a shorter boot, which are still well-represented in the classic era. Varusteleka sometimes has solid European jackboots at great prices, but surplus supplies tend to ebb and flow. Another overlooked source is reenacting groups on facebook, particularly WW2 Soviet or German groups; join one and keep your eyes open and you can usually find a good secondhand pair fairly cheap.

Up next is an excellent choice for those who want to add some subtle but authentic galactic style to their everyday wardrobe:

Chelsea boots are always a solid choice, but since they’re only ankle-height, they work especially well when paired with some sort of gaiter, spat, or legwrap in order to achieve the classic SW small-ankle silhouette (more on that later). Personally, my wife and I love our Blundstones! I wore mine on an 18-mile backpacking trip early last year with pretty much zero break-in time, and had zero blisters or other foot issues. They’re super comfy and made from high-quality materials (which make for great natural weathering)! A bit spendy, but remember the costumer’s paradox, and “buy once, cry once”, as they say. Alternately, keep your eyes out on the secondhand market!

We’ll finish up with a look at one of Rogue One‘s curious deviations from the prior visual record. (I say curious because so much was made of the production design’s commitment to accurately recreating the style of Episode IV, and yet they put their pilots, ground crew, and commandos in a style of low combat boot (made by Frye, I believe) not seen anywhere in the Original Trilogy. I’m less concerned with the commandos as those are a character class not present in the original film.)

The question becomes, how do we view this choice in light of the existing film? Do we retroactively picture SW’77 Yavin ground crew wearing combat boots? Or should we try to picture R1 X-wing pilots wearing the classic tall boot? Next month, (in addition to many more examples of common galactic footwear types), we’ll try to unpack what happens when a film’s budget begins to interfere with accurate adherence to a director’s own vision. Join us then!

Researching, compiling, and writing this series takes a lot of time and energy. If you’ve enjoyed reading, or will use this post as inspiration for your own costume, please consider supporting my work with a small donation below! Thank you!