Wait, Star Wars-Inspired Fits Aren’t Just For Comic-Con?

Thoughts on dressing up like Andor – from MR PORTER

Perhaps the force isn’t as strong as it once was with the Star Wars franchise. However, Andor is the best thing to come out of a galaxy far, far away in a long time. It hasn’t just put the space saga back into the cultural conversation, it’s tractor beamed it towards our wardrobes, too. Sure, we’re rooting for the plucky Rebel Alliance in its ongoing insurgency against the Galactic Empire. But is it just us googling where to get that New Republic jacket on our second screen? Don’t worry, we’re not entirely embracing cosplay here. However, if you know where to look, there is fit inspo to be found in the most surprising of places. Maybe even the spice mines of Kessel, if you’re quick enough. We need to talk about it, in the spirit of the Socratic method rather than Yoda-style syntax – read on, below.

Star Wars – on MR PORTER? Isn’t this supposed to be the men’s style destination, not some unfashionable outpost languishing in the Degobah System.

But then Star Wars has changed. More specifically, the clothes have changed. There will always be something for certain – how should we phrase this? – tastes. Perhaps more San Diego Comic-Con than Paris Fashion Week. However, there has been a disturbance in the force.

As if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced?

More that, in recent years, the space saga has become a showcase for clothes that we’d actually wear. Take The Mandalorian, Pedro Pascal’s other big series that isn’t The Last Of Us.

People are thinking of wearing beskar’gam armour to the office?

This isn’t the way.

Phew. Not to mention it must get a little musty under that helmet, what with never taking it off and all.

However, viewers glued to the recent season of the show may have found themselves a bit distracted – and this time not just by Grogu. Instead of following the fate of Dr Penn Pershing, formerly a clone engineer for the Galactic Empire, they were googling where he got his trademark glasses and textured jacket.

OK.

And the other crossover Star Wars spinoff, the tightly wound spy thriller Andor, also leans into this forward-fashion approach, with outfits that wouldn’t feel out of place in Craig Green, Applied Art Forms or even Stone Island collections. In the new season, the main character, Cassian Andor, even disguises himself as a flashy fashion designer while on a recognisance mission on the planet Ghorman. While in a flashback during the first season, the childhood version of Andor wears an upcycled piece of the sort you might expect from BODE.

So, something that was possibly previously worn a long time ago, if not in a galaxy far, far away.

Exactly. As Michael Wilkinson, the costume designer on Andor, told starwars.com: “Part of the success of Star Wars costuming is that there’s always some connection with costumes that we know from our planet. There’s always something that the audience can connect with and relate to… coming from a place of authenticity and cultural resonance.”

Is this just about you wanting to dress like the bad guys?

True, we’ve written before about the allure of Sith Lord style.

Well, the dark side is more seductive.

But this is about wider appeal, beyond good and evil. The utilitarian workwear of Ferrix, on the fringes of Imperial control in the first season of Andor. The washed-out playboy beachwear of Niamos. The finest robes woven from Ghorlectipod silk. Then there’s the multi-cultural utopianism of New Republic Coruscant in The Mandalorian. Outer space is so hot right now.

You can type this stuff, but you sure can’t say it. Can you give me some examples of what I should be wearing?

These are the clothes you’re looking for…

This story originally appeared (on Star Wars Day) on MR PORTER