The fact that fascism inspired the look and feel of the Empire is no secret. In fact, Star Wars creator George Lucas even refers to the Imperial officers in The Empire Strikes Back as "Nazis" while giving his commentary of the film. He specifically mentions their militaristic dress, noting, "The Nazis are basically the same costume as we used in the first film and they are designed to be very authoritarian, very empire-like."
This motif is significant, and is one of the defining themes of this era in the Star Wars saga. "You'll see as time goes on [the officers] don't really appear in the movie about the Republic, which is the first three movies," says Lucas. "You don't have that same militaristic look as in the first three films because the Jedi are the ones that keep peace in the universe not the military."
In designing the look of these characters, history played a crucial role. Costume designer John Mollo was tasked with creating the look of these sinister servants of the Empire. To inspire the designs, Mollo looked back to history. "We didn't look at any films specifically, but had a lot of books — all the books there were on science fiction and science-fiction films, books on World War II, on Vietnam, and on Japanese armor." The guidance he was given was simple: "George made pronouncements of a general nature," Mollo says. "First of all, he wanted the Imperial people to look efficient, totalitarian, fascist; and the Rebels, the goodies, to look like something out of a Western or the US Marines. He said, 'You've got a very difficult job here, because I don't want anyone to notice the costumes. They've got to look familiar, but not familiar at the same time.'"
