Or:  Why Obi Wan Kenobi ‘goes into hiding’ but still wears the Jedi uniform.

So, we all know the Jedi robes, right?  One of the few consistent aspects of the franchise from its very inception, beginning with Obi Wan ‘Old Ben’ Kenobi:

Continuing on to the Force ghost of the redeemed Anakin Skywalker (note that Yoda just wears a burlap sack):

And then into the prequels where it is clear that this is what every Jedi wears:

“So…what’s your point?” you might ask, while making the Mace Windu face…

Well…allow me to present…Jedi Master Owen Lars!

His compatriots, Jedi Masters Mos Eisley Background Extra #12-14

And the most powerful of them all Jedi Master Used Speeder Salesman (I was going to crop this but the crazy-face droid always makes me laugh):

Because…you see…Old Ben isn’t wearing ‘Jedi Robes’.  The Jedi, as conceived in the original trilogy, were paramilitary space-cops like the Lensmen or the Green Lantern Corps (in earlier drafts Jedi even needed Kyber Crystals to access the Force like the Lens or Green Lantern rings).  Old Ben isn’t wearing a Jedi outfit, he’s wearing what half the population of Tatooine wears.  Anakin’s Force ghost is wearing the same thing because…Anakin is from Tatooine (and originally wasn’t recruited as a small child, but that’s another story).   

When Lucas started writing the prequels, he was absolutely certain that the audience would never be able to recognize that a character was a Jedi without a clear visual marker.   Thus he dressed all Jedi exactly as Obi Wan appeared in the original series, because apparently billowy earth-tone fabrics are a much clearer indicator of being a laser-sword space-wizard than possessing a laser-sword and using space-wizard powers are.  Lucas tends to have a very low opinion of audiences, you see.

So that leaves the question…what was the Jedi uniform supposed to be before the ‘all Jedi dress like desert nomads’ retcon?   It was this:

Luke’s outfit in the second half of Return of the Jedi was specifically designed with the intention that it would be an example of the traditional Jedi uniform.  It has exactly the sort of paramilitary stylings you’d expect in an organization of magic space cops which, as I mentioned before, is what the Jedi were supposed to be.

The fact that the prequel-era Jedi are always undressing before a fight tells you exactly how poorly the retcon that made them shaolin-space-monks meshes with the role their original samurai-space-cops depiction forces them to play in the story.