Not seeing where the straps are going.
The straps are the sequel style straps. They never made sense to me either.
There is this bittersweet aspect about SW design. I feel as though it is more about eliciting a reaction from the audience. Sort of tap into memory, reference, social norms, in order for the viewer to immediately understand something in this strange universe. I think that is great but the problem is that the more you become fascinated with and object as a fan, you start to want to understand its meaning or workings and that may not quite hold up. Star Wars is fantasy, not Science Fiction,
The original inspiration for the rebel pilot is US military/NASA test pilots and most lily the OT leg straps that looped around the legs were probably inspired by parachute leg straps which in turn keep the parachute from getting pulled off the body when in use.
I always considered that the OT rebel pilot leg straps might meant of been to keep the flack vest in place during an ejection. We know that for costuming and production the strap is actually just pinned in place on the jumpsuit, but in-universe, I think the intention was that it was meant to look as if it connected to the vest. But that is just a theory.
This theory falls apart by The Empire Strikes Back because when costumers added the jacket for the pilots, they keep the strap connected at the jumpsuit. As a result, the strap runs under the jacket and not longer appears to connect to the vest.
So now with the sequel straps, I am scratching my head. Overall, I did really like the ST pilot costume. I wished they would have dropped the orange. Never a fan. I wish they would have all gone to the green flight suit of the A-Wing pilots.
