The Hidden History Behind Star Trek Uniforms

It’s easy to watch a movie or TV show without paying too much attention to wardrobe, but costume designers put a lot of work into every little detail on a character’s outfit. The Star Trek uniforms have varied greatly over the years, but each one is unique to the vision of the specific show or movie it’s worn in. You’ve heard all of the jokes about redshirts always dying first, but what does a red uniform actually mean in Star Trek lore? From the difficult material used in early seasons to the truth about that green shirt, let’s take a look at the hidden history behind Star Trek uniforms.

#StarTrek #History #Uniforms

Original colors | 0:00
Stripes and pips | 1:23
All about velour | 2:28
From Pants to Miniskirts | 3:27
Space pajamas | 4:35
Redeeming the uniforms | 5:37
All about spandex | 6:39
Exception to rule | 7:47
The infamous skant | 9:02
A working uniform | 10:10
Uniform mysteries explained | 11:02

[GrungeHQ]

What color uniform would you want if you were in Starfleet?

[allenwiddows]

The main reason for the bright colors in TOS was due to the decision to film the series in color when most TVs out there were black and white. Those three colors were distinctly different from each other when viewed on a black and white television; this was not an issue in the movies or later series, thus the more muted colors.

[jimbrooks]

If no one has mentioned it before, this video is rife with with errors. The rank stripes in the original series were specific for each rank, not associated with a crew person's being enlisted or officer. For instance, a commander would have two full stripes, captain would have two and a half, while ensigns had none. In the feature films with the original cast, starting with The Wrath of Khan, the only repurposed costumes were those worn by enlisted personnel. Fletcher took the jumpsuits, dyed them a rust-red, and added different rank and division features. The officers (Kirk, Spock, etc.) had uniforms that were completely new and redesigned with wool jackets and pants as well as undershirts, shoulder straps, and armbands with an expanded color range denoting which divisions they were part of.

[franklinmills]

TOS uniforms were the best. Also during TOS, each starship had its own distinctive insignia, which I always thought was one of the best features of those uniforms.

[joelwright]

According to Marc Cushman’s definitive production history of TOS, “These Are the Voyages, TOS Season 1”, Grace Lee Whitney who played Janice Rand thought wearing pants would cover up her best feature — her legs. She WANTED her character to wear a skirt.

[illusionclassicrock]

My favorite uniforms are from the original series. When they made the first movies I absolutely hated that they changed them. Then they further drove me nuts, when they changed around gold and red for the next generation. Gold was definitely a better symbol for command than red.

[_XR_]

A point missed about the original velour uniforms of the original series: Those "golden yellow" tops were actually green - They just showed yellowish on film because of the way the fabric interacted with studio lighting....

[char]

FYI :Desilu would buy bolts of red gold &blue fabric from Ohrbach’s department store and the uniforms were mostly made in house as needed, Desilu always tried to buy locally for costumes, dresses & gowns came from three stores I Magnin, Joseph Magnin or Liberty House most of the others were designed and sewn in-house .

[cindyknudson]

The Motion Picture was a much anticipated. The "unveiling" of the new Enterprise was a wonderful moment. I would say the REAL flaw of the movie was the plot. It was essentially a redo of an episode. Vygr was essentially Nomad. Fans deserved better. BUT it did bring the Star Trek world and crew back to the screen so.... 😀

[kmcd]

There are at least 2 episodes of TNG that mention there is a range of approved uniforms. Many are due to cultural differences. Like Worf's "sash". On DS9, crews from fresh off of ships wore TNG uniforms.
This is similar to navy uniforms, at one time. The sailors had one for on the ships, 1 for land at home, and one for shore leave abroad. I think this concept has been dropped.

[kirbymarchbarcena]

DESIGNERS: What can you say about the uniforms?
EDNA MODE: I approve it as long as there are no capes

[christineparis]

I worked in Hollywood for a few years in the 90s, mostly just extra work, and the Star Trek sets were revered for having a craft service table with a Pepperedge Farms contract, so the food tables were full of all the Pepperidge Farm cookies. When you're a poor struggling actor and extra, free food is a HUGE benefit, because you never have money for things like food. I spent one whole day paired with a guy who did a lot of extra work on Star Trek, and he told me that they all had to wear very tight girdles under the form fitting clothes, which was extremely difficult since everyone plowed through the cookies all day long. I loved hearing the behind the scenes stories much more than acting, so I ended up as a writer instead. I still miss those carefree days though, it was great fun on sets when you weren't worried about carrying scenes or making an impression, extras were just supposed to be moving plants, basically, anyone who attracted attention was withdrawn from scenes or made to look as awful as possible, so not to interfere with the stars, and they were very sensitive to being upstaged! You had to be careful to never attract attention. Of course, tons of would be actors made the mistake of trying to "steal" scenes, and always fired....

[AsianFlew]

The "command gold" that Kirk wore in the first season was actually green, closer in color to the wrap-around green tunic that Kirk wore, but the film lab kept color correcting it so it ended up appearing gold onscreen. The scenes you used to illustrate the velour fabric are actually from the third season and are the new polyester fabric (you can tell because the new fabric looks a little more structured and colorful onscreen). The scene with the Gorn is the velour.

[andrewdrabble]

Scotty didn't actually go through the series without being killed. He was killed twice and brought back to life twice. Once against Apollo and once against Nomad

[snipedude]

You didn't mention the green command wrap from TOS or the grey/black uniforms of the Dominion War era.

[navelaviator]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the wrap around uniform top kirk sometimes wore in the original series...

[kali]

According to David Gerrold, William Ware Theiss worked on the principle of "Visual Suspense" on female costuming: will they or won't they fall out of the costume.

I recall that Mad Magazine once did a gag where Deanna asks why her new costume was packaged in an

[liontone]

Jellico was a baddass. Even Kirk would have respected that man.

[cwdrew]

Also, in the original pilot of Star Trek (The Cage), there were three colors of tunics. There was a gold color that Pike wore, the blue color that Spock wore, and then also a beige (or tan?) color worn by some of the crew. The beige color was very close to the gold color, so it wasn't as noticeable to many viewers.

[Corbomite-eity]

The first movie did not underperform. They simply went another direction in many ways with sequel to give a more militaristic feel as it would be more action based.