Galactic Style Guide – Ponchos II

Welcome back to another installment of the Galactic Style Guide, the bimonthly series where we break down the ‘Star Wars aesthetic’ in order to help you create a more authentic ‘outer persona’! In this entry, we’re continuing our look at ponchos, focusing on examples from the prequel era! (As a reminder: for our purposes, we’re defining a poncho as a garment worn as an outer layer for protection from the elements, which covers the front of the body).
Let’s keep things rolling with the poncho I think I would most want to curl up in:

Qui-Gon wears this poncho when venturing into Mos Espa in Episode I—the script specifying that he is “dressed as a moisture farmer”. Trisha Biggar notes that the coarse-weave is a silk/linen mix and that the border is “printed”—though I’m not sure what exactly that means (Dressing A Galaxy, p20).

Design: the overall shape is a diamond, but note the seams in a ‘drop-shoulder’ configuration; the point of the center front/back is slightly acute, while those in line with the shoulders appear to be a bit obtuse. The toy gives us a better idea, though the diagonal seams to either side of the neck hole do not appear to be present on-screen.

Several main characters in Episode II don ponchos as well; let’s look at the one worn by Anakin as part of his refugee disguise:

This v-neck poncho is made of “off-white vintage African fabric” (DAG).
Notice that it has two pleats on the left shoulder, and one on the right, and what appears to be deeper drape on the left. This suggests the neckhole may actually be offset from the center; I am unsure of the overall shape, but it is probably roughly rectangular, possibly with some curve/taper to the ends.

One thing I never noticed until I looked at these closeups is how weathered the poncho is–which fits with the refugee concept! Note the light texturing around the neck facing and light horizontal striping on his left side.

Both Jango and Boba also wear ponchos in Episode II as well. Jango wears his in a deleted scene in which Count Dooku interrogates Padme on Geonosis:

Perhaps playing up the spaghetti western side of his character as a gunslinger/bounty hunter, the neckhole appears to be be a serape-style slit opening; the presence of a curved front suggests a long rectangle with rounded corners, although it may also be more diamond-like. The edge appears to have a rolled hem.
The material looks to me like a heavy boiled or semi-felted wool.

Boba wisely wears a poncho to fend off the rains on stormy Kamino; it doesn’t look like much, but in promotional posed photos we get a better look at it.

As we can see here, it is quite clearly made of leather, and based on the shape of the margins I would guess it is in fact something along the lines of an extra-large, chrometanned deerskin.

There! – if I’ve overlooked anyone onscreen from the Lucas era, let me know down below!

Of course, I would be remiss if I closed our poncho entry without mentioning the most poncho-centric piece of SW media in recent years, 2019’s Jedi Fallen Order. To give a degree of player customizability, the game included 22 various ponchos as cosmetic items, some more in-universe/effective than others (click for full size):

Note that Cal’s leather harness-thing largely stays the same between the various outfits, which strongly suggests it is separate and Not part of a poncho – as I pointed out last time: it’s perfectly fine in the GFFA for a poncho to Just Be A Poncho.
Of these various designs, the only ones that really leap out at me are Homestead (clearly a wink at the design of the Lars family’s kitchen ceiling), Starfighter (looks more like a poncho ‘bounding’ as an Alliance pilot), and Sumi (Hello Kitty?). Offshore jumps out purely as a brighter color than the general palette (and it makes Cal look more like he should be catching fishsticks for Mrs. Pauls), but a poncho makes at least some sense for such an occupation (much like the Mon Cal fish lady’s Irish sweater).

I plan on diving deeper into ‘character archetypes and recognizable silhouettes’ in a future post, but if you look back on our examples above, I hope you’ll observe some commonalities.
Ponchos are only donned in certain situations/environments; they aren’t worn all the time: just when needed for protection from things like sun, rain, sand, forest undergrowth, rusty junkyard dangers, or when wanting to avoid attracting too much attention. As such, they are most associated with character types like farmers, refugees, scrappers, and commandos (or those impersonating them!). Who do we not see wear ponchos? Politicians or diplomats (these tend towards long, tailored cloaks), armored mercenaries or bounty hunters on-the-job (for whom ponchos would simply be a hindrance), indoor workers like shopkeepers, bartenders, and craftsmen (for whom aprons would be more appropriate), pilots, technicians, top military brass, etc.
Have thoughts? Leave a comment below or come discuss with us at the SWLH group on facebook! See you next time!

(Special thanks to this month’s supporters B.V., P.D., and R.F.! Researching, compiling, and writing this series takes a lot of time and mental energy. If you’ve enjoyed reading, or will use this post to inform a character design of your own, please consider supporting my work via ko-fi, or with a small donation below! Thank you!