Are Star Wars Costumes Inspired By 1800s Firefighters?

Star Wars has been subject to many different speculations and also the inspiration for a lot of gadgets that we use today. As technology progresses, there is no longer any doubt that we will see more and more gadgets inspired by Star Wars, Star Trek and other science fiction movies. But where did the inspiration for Star Wars originate from? Is it the twisted reality of some movie costume designer, or is there a truth in the way Darth Vader is carrying that mask? These are all relatively interesting questions if you ask me, and I am happy to tell you that the answers are even more interesting.

It turns out that back in the 1800s, firefighters were actually more Darth Vader than anyone is today. To keep themselves from firey injuries, they created heavy cast iron and brass masks that are eerily close to Lord Vader’s own mask. The fact that we’ve had a bunch of Darth Vaders walking around here on earth in a time not too long ago is boggling your mind I’m sure. Furthermore, that futuristic technologies draw inspiration from a time we’ve long since forgotten is even more mind boggling.

As pointed out by Collectors Weekly, these firefighter masks came with a 13 meter air tubing which forced air into the masks to keep the firefighter operating with fresh air. These two masks originated from Hamburg, Germany (black one) and Paris, France (brass one) and were designed to keep the firefighters safe from harm. Sometimes reality is better then fiction!