At what point did Tatooine robes become Jedi uniforms?

You are right. I think The Secret History of Star Wars goes into it, but the change seemed to have occurred during pre-pro of Phantom Menace.

That is interesting, have not heard that before.

There is also this quote in In Making of ROTJ, page 119.

Wednesday, January 6, was a big makeup and costume fitting day. “In a way, the first two films were an elaborate setup for Jedi,” says Hamill. “I think people really sense that this is the final chapter in the story–so far–and not a cliffhanger. It’s the big finish–all stops out, all systems go. My costume reflects that. During Star Wars, I was in a floppy, white rag-doll-type outfit. For Empire, I was in a militaristic-looking khaki costume. Now I wear the black uniform of a trained Jedi Knight. But the question is: What kind of Jedi? A wizard, a religious figure, or just a glutton for punishment?”
“Luke’s outfit went through incredible changes,” says Marquand. “We just worked and worked and worked. George really wanted Luke to wear black.”
“That was completely George,” says [costume designer Aggie Guerard] Rodgers. “He told me, 'That’s what it is–just copy the white one from Star Wars in black.”
“George was a little worried about my costume, that I would come off as a Hitler Youth or something a little too stark,” Hamill adds.

I believe there are other references to this idea, whether it is from Lucas direct or artists/designers.

I think the rationale here was that Lucas wanted Luke in black for dramatic effect and to make the audience question if he will turn or not. At the time it being a Jedi uniform was the justification for why he would choose to wear black. But then when making the prequels, Lucas returned to the idea of the Tatooine robes being more like the Jedi uniform because 1) audiences already identified the look with Obi-Wan, the most easily recognized Jedi in pop culture (a lot like how Gandalf sort of became the template of the ‘wizard’ look), and 2) the lighter, earthy tones of the Jedi robes made them more easily recognizable as the good guys.

Basically, costumes are an easy way to tell audiences who the good guys and bad guys are. For ROTJ he wanted the audience to wonder if Luke would be bad, but for the prequels he wanted the audience to immediately recognize the Jedi as good. In universe, I think the argument for the Tatooine robes is that they are reminiscent to clothes of the impoverished, simply-dressed citizens of the galaxy. And the prequel Jedi harken to the concept mendicant, ascetic monks, and the simple robes play to that idea.

This is headcanon, but I like to think both are Jedi outfits, but are from different sects/periods of Jedi history.

If you look at Count Dooku, his outfit is pretty similar to Luke’s ROTJ. They probably simply referred to Luke’s outfit from a production standpoint, but from an in-universe perspective, perhaps the black uniform was used by Jedi in the Old Republic that were more “Knight” than “Monk”. They may have been more intertwined with the government they represented than later Jedi, who chose to be somewhat separate to the government they served. These Jedi may have answered directly to a government leader rather than a Jedi Council, or may have been government themselves. In Dooku’s case, he was the Count of his homeworld, and leader of the Separatist movement. In Luke’s case, he may have simply found the outfit or doesn’t know the full history behind it beyond it being a Jedi uniform. Or maybe it could be intentional, since he is a military leader within the Alliance to Restore the Republic. At this time, Luke may have saw himself more as a warrior than as a monk. Maybe this look predates the reformation of the Jedi order and the Republic.

As time went on, perhaps the sects of Jedi who adopted the more religious trappings gained more influence in the Jedi Order as a whole, leading to the more monk-like, samurai look. In the High Republic, the Jedi had essentially beat the Sith, achieving a moral/cultural victory. Because of this, they wore more opulent robes of white and gold, conjuring the image of Catholic priests. But overtime, problems grew within the Republic and the Order. Maybe the Jedi saw their opulence as representative of their pride, so their uniforms became less flashy as they emphasized more of their Buddhist monk mentalities.

Obviously in real life they just made it up as they went, but it is fun to think about.

I never really thought about Yoda’s original outfit being the same as Obi-wan, but I guess it’s kinda true. Anakin’s ghost is wearing the exact thing though, not sure why. I have definitely seen artwork in which Luke’s black Jedi gear was supposed to be what they wore. I think some of Doug Chiang’s work.

The Phantom Menace

I would argue it was either in TESB with Yoda, or definitely in ROTJ, with Ghost Anakin.

I say ROTJ marked the point George Lucas decided that Obi-Wan’s robes from the first movie were the official Jedi vestments, as evidenced by Anakin’s ghost, which retroactively creates a problem.

If Obi-Wan was in hiding why would he still be wearing the very robes that would give away his identity as a Jedi?

fmalover said:

I say ROTJ marked the point George Lucas decided that Obi-Wan’s robes from the first movie were the official Jedi vestments, as evidenced by Anakin’s ghost, which retroactively creates a problem.

If Obi-Wan was in hiding why would he still be wearing the very robes that would give away his identity as a Jedi?

idk if Im in the minority, but if feels like Jedi is really what kicked off the prequel era, and really set in stone what the universe is, compared to “Star Wars” and “Empire” where so many possibilities were open and they could go in any direction

Patali said:

fmalover said:

I say ROTJ marked the point George Lucas decided that Obi-Wan’s robes from the first movie were the official Jedi vestments, as evidenced by Anakin’s ghost, which retroactively creates a problem.

If Obi-Wan was in hiding why would he still be wearing the very robes that would give away his identity as a Jedi?

idk if Im in the minority, but if feels like Jedi is really what kicked off the prequel era, and really set in stone what the universe is, compared to “Star Wars” and “Empire” where so many possibilities were open and they could go in any direction

The prequels kicked off the prequel era. The time from 1983-1999 is full of the most imaginative expanded universe stories we ever had. The Jedi costumes are perfect examples of that. They weren’t standardized brown robes until The Phantom Menace.