Welcome back to 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’! Somehow it’s been about a year since we’ve had a Style Guide entry dealing with soft kit, so this time around we’re diving into another category of somewhat ‘swishy’ garments – coats and robes!
As we ran into a similar semantic issue when we looked at capes and cloaks (distinct from today’s subject due to their lack of sleeves), before we get ahead of ourselves we should probably try to nail down the differences between these two.
So, how exactly does a coat differ from a robe? To be honest, it’s a blurred line. After collecting and scrutinizing the references for this entry, the answer seems to be a combination of 1) the amount of tailoring the garment has, 2) the wearer’s activity level, and 3) perhaps the degree of closure: thus Robes tend to be longer and flowier (less tailored), worn closed, and folks who wear them tend to do more standing around. Coats tend to be somewhat shorter, more tailored, worn open, and those wearing them do more while wearing them. Or perhaps robes are less utilitarian, while coats serve more functional purposes, like protecting the wearer (from cold, dirt, etc.)? As I say, it’s a complicated spectrum to navigate, and the boundaries are more than a little unclear, but I’ve done my best to group them here, hopefully to show the differences.
First up we have what I’m calling ‘true robes’:
Living History in the Star Wars Galaxy 