Lit Clothes and Fashion in the Galaxy Far Far Away

by http://jakemurray.deviantart.com/
"Card art for the "Jump To Lightspeed" set of Fantasy Flight Games' "Star Wars: The Card Game." This character was first introduced in the Masters of Teras Kasi Playstation game, and is notorious for having a pretty impractical costume. So I really had a blast getting the opportunity to redesign her into something that I think is more reflective of her actual personality and fighting style."

 

From the TFA thread on lit.

 

from Han Solo #1

 

I don't think the kokoshnik was inspired by Mongolian fashion and if it was so has it long ago that I would not call it Mongolian fashion.

Also where have you heard that hennin was an imitation of Mongol fashion? Because that's was new to me

 

I first heard about reading Timothy May's Mongol Conquests in World History - page 254 in case you were wondering (I looked up an old citation - which is why I didn't answer you sooner, sorry). There is also a Smithsonian online article on the subject

 

Thanks, my library lacks that book, can you give me a link to that online article?

 

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart...red-by-mongol-warrior-women-180948217/?no-ist

 

He actually has the hair to pull it off, too.

 

from Star Wars – Doctor Aphra #1

 

Looks like the character artist was borrowing from early concept art of Rey in TFA. Interesting.

 

WOW, that hat.

 

Finally, a piece of Star Wars merchandise that actually looks like something someone would wear in Star Wars. (at Torrid/Hot Topic)

 

Yeah, they even got the John Mollo 1977-era ribbed sleeves in there.

 

Maybe he's an alien and it fits his head...?

 

--------------------

If I remember right: no on the first one, he is native; yes on the second one.

 

I have always felt Jedi robes draw more heavily from Han style Chinese clothing than "samurai" specifically. Especially Luke's ROTJ outfit and the PT Jedi robes. They would be much more at home on a wuxia film set than a jidai geiki set.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

The PT robes probably do draw on Chinese wuxia films; after all, Chinese movies inspired a lot of the prequels' martial arts choreography. However, during the time when the OT was filmed, Japanese cinema was much more internationally well-known than Chinese period pieces - thus the robes of the Jedi in the OT are longer, and modeled on samurai kimonos, rather than the shorter action-ready robes used in the PT.

Also, Luke's outifit is black in ROTJ because it's meant to evoke a Western gunfighter who's come to town with serious and probably deadly buisness in mind. It's meant to get a 1983 audience (more familiar with that genre's conventions than we are now) asking "will Luke turn evil or won't he?" The loose white flap of his shirt lining in the finale also calls to mind the old Western film idea of the "white hat" hero.

 

And here I thought it was meant to symbolize Luke's relation to Vader and his process of maturing (from innocent boy in ANH to a grown man in ROTJ (note, that in TESB we have his outfit moving away from pure white and going darker, too.))

 

Well, that too. It's multiple things at once.

However, putting the black outfit in the cultural context of 1983 America, it's far more likely to have derived from movie Westerns than Chinese wuxia films.

 

I don't know. By 1983, heck by 1977, Shaw Brothers kung fu movies were already grindhouse cult hits. The Empire Strikes Back's training sequences reminds me of training sequences in The 36th Chamber of Shaolin/Shaolin Master Killer. In fact, the coimc adaptation of that sequence ups the ante for Luke's one-armed handstand into Shaolin's famous One-Finger Zen(and, interestingly, the colorist keeps Luke in his orange flight suit pants further evoking Shaolin imagery).

Spoiler

I firmly believe that while George was stylistically and often structurally influenced by Kurosawa... i don't doubt he was also acquainted with King Hu and Chang Cheh. One-Armed Swordsman is easily conceivable as an early influence alongside Kurosawa. Heck, the One-Armed Swordsman crossed paths with Zatoichi in 1971.

Mind you, I'm not talking about the black color but the hip length Jedi vestments. OAS also wore black ironically, with a white under robe, much like Luke's white flap. Not to say it's a direct lift, but it's certainly a reference GL likely had alongside chambara references.

Jedi also strike me as much more Wudang than Shaolin, though. Espeically with the sword/lightsaber parallel. Now we have a Guardian of the Whills that wields a staff and looks like a Star Wars version of Shaolin monks in Rogue One.