Galactic Style Guide – Ammo belts and Pouches III

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’! In this entry, we’re concluding our examination of the various styles of belt gear and pouches seen onscreen by looking at Original and Prequel examples together – let’s get started! In the first two entries, we focused on military-surplus (or milsurp style) gear, so this time we’re looking at the few non-milsurp examples.

Our two male heroes have belt gear which seems military but (as far as I know) isn’t – if you can’t swing actual milsurp, you can’t go wrong with real, unadorned leather in one color, and minimal hardware (snaps and brass studs, at most):

One of the ‘Pruneface’ commandos in Episode VI has an intriguing cylindrical belt pouch, which I believe was also borrowed for Wilford Brimley’s character a few years later:

One of the places where we see a decidedly different style in action is among the ‘scum and villany’ at Jabba’s palace. Let’s break it down:

Barada has a pair of unmatched pouches that look very rustic – one closes with a knotted thong and the other with a big brass button/snap. The material ‘reads’ as oilskin, or perhaps greasy suede or braintan.

Skiff guard Vizam also has two soft flapped D-shaped pouches at his belt; the one we can see better on the left looks like it closes with a leather toggle.

Like Chewbacca, Jabba’s resident Whiphid, J’Quille, is otherwise naked but still needs some something to keep his belongings in! I can’t tell what these are made of, but the left one looks like heavily weathered and might actually be milsurp (pretty sure I see British-style ferrules on the end of the straps), but the flatter one on the right is a mystery. Like the rest of Jabba’s crew, very rustic; even their belts look more like oily, stretched suede instead of the well-made full-grain leather belts we normally see.

We’ll bridge the OT-PT gap with the Fetts. In both incarnations, they wear distinctive waist bandoleers made up of seven small compartments. As we can see here, they are Not the same piece; Boba’s flaps are more square and have stitched edges:

Throughout Episodes I-III, we see Jedi wear utility belts featuring a distinctive style of pouch – I think they’re maybe meant to be leather(?), but the props were all hard cast resin, and while they’re fine on the outside, on the inside they’re “so uncivilized”.

While never seen onscreen that I know of, Ki-Adi Mundi is shown in some publicity photos with an odd dropleg portmanteau, labeled as a ‘travel pouch’ in one book. (Based on Palps’ appearance, this is from Episode II). As far as I know, he’s the only Prequel Jedi with such an item of kit:

Bail Organa and Padme Amidala both use softer shapes in their belt gear; I want to say that it’s similar or achievable with wet-forming leather, but I have a sneaky feeling they were just cast rubber.

The belt gear worn by Owen Lars in Episodes II and III is quite an interesting juxtaposition…I really feel that his Ep III massive double pouches with tooled leather would be a better fit for the aesthetics of Episode II, while the modest, simple pouch seen in Episode II would have been perfect for showing the transition into the Dark Times at the end of Episode III!

And just like that, we’ve returned to Tatooine where we started things! Are there any characters that I’ve left off who should be added to our sample? Let me know below, or come join the discussion at the SWLH facebook group! I’ll see you next month!

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