Star Trek — The Evolution of Costume

One of my favourite sci-fi franchises, Star Trek, has seen its fair share of costume changes throughout the years. In this blog post I’m going to take you on a tour through Star Trek history.

It’s fair to say that the original series of Star Trek was a low budget production and a lot…and I mean a lot…of the costumes were way off the mark (hello, horrific blue and green jumpsuit from S1E07) but the crew of the enterprise had some of the most iconic costumes of all time. The gold, blue, and red uniform has become an archetype of nerd culture, even creating the popular joke of the doomed “redshirt.”

The colour scheme is simple and helps the audience to distinguish between the types of character. It was so simple and so timeless that it survived (mostly unchanged) in the reboots. The relatively plain costumes allowed for the low budget while still rising to icon status as the show’s popularity grew.

Less iconic are the uniforms that made it to Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I have to be honest, I have no clue what the costume designer was thinking when they looked at these costumes and thought, “Ah, yes that’s perfect!”

The nude and neutral colour scheme was not quite what you’d expect for a sci-fi action movie, but then again the first Star Trek film wasn’t exactly up to scratch either (sorry but it’s the odd number rule).

I would like to take a moment to despair at the plunging neckline that Bones is wearing in this picture and the chest hair that, to be honest, everyone could have done without seeing. This is just another aspect of this film's costumes that makes you think, "???" It would be understandable if one of the female characters was wearing it (because, hey, sex sells and who doesn't like a bit of cleavage every now and then?) but no one needed to see Bones get his flat and hairy man-chest out. EW.

Moving on from this costume disaster and on to my absolute favourite Star Trek film, The Wrath of Khan. Costume designer Robert Fletcher really redeems himself here — the uniform reverts to a more military style and the awful colour scheme was hidden with some red dye.

The low budgets struck again as the uniform remained unchanged until the movie torch was handed over to Piccard . To keep this blog post from turning into the ramblings of a madwoman, I will skip all of the spin-offs and move straight on to the reboots.

J.J Abrams’ reboot of Star Trek set the movies in an alternate timeline to the original series. Despite this, the iconic original uniforms were resurrected with a new modern flare. Sticking to the comforting sight of the original colour scheme was a touch that fans of the original show (like me) found reassuring and possibly added to the success.

The "mini-dress" that was often flaunted on the original series actually seemed to become an optional part of the uniform and many of the women in the film wear the shirt and trousers. (Which made a lot of women happy, myself included. I mean, yes, the mini-dress is adorable on both genders, but super impractical for any combat situation.)

One of my favourite details of the new uniform is the mini insignia prints all over the shirts! This was an absolute stroke of genius! As a costume design student I found this tiny little detail to be the most satisfying thing about the costumes in this film.