I always felt that by Star Trek's time, the clothing was a lot more comfortable than it looked, and much better insulated, to stay comfortable in cold and hot weather, thanks to 300 years of more advanced materials and clothing manufacturing techniques.
Those uniforms would have been fine if Trek had been some sort of Honor Harrington type space opera, but they didn't suit Star Trek's less overtly militaristic representation. Whereas even if one didn't like the TMP uniforms they were still consistent (conceptually) with how Starfleet had been presented in TOS.
Well, they really were expecting to get a few more outings with those uniforms and Perscan buckles. Ditto the dozens of raw silk Starfleet leisure shirts and Epsilon 9-type space station uniforms, which are still being auctioned off by "It's a Wrap!".
I'm sure someone can confirm this, but I seem to recall that Stephen Nichols had been cast not long at all before this picture was taken, and his own uniforms had not been made yet, so they found him one that would fit - and it was a "gold" one-piece. (I don't have the picture in front of me, but if memory serves, this is one of the photos taken before Spock's undershirt/collar was made, as well.)
I can't confirm any of that, but there's some publicity photos that would seem to jibe with what you're saying. Here's a more "candid" group photo that was likely taken when they took the official group photo — several of the cast members look like they're laughing, and GR and Bob Wise are in the photo as well. http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tmp_other/publicity/tmp_cast_creators.jpg In addition to Stephen Collins in the gold jumpsuit and Nimoy without his collar, Shatner's wearing an interesting uniform variation — a two-piece with shoulder tabs. IIRC, it was only the jumpsuits and the short-sleeved uniforms that had shoulder tabs. Kirk/Spock/McCoy group shot. Again, no collar for Nimoy, and Shatner's got shoulder tabs. Maybe it's just the lighting or the film they shot this one on, but the uniform colors are really vibrant here. http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tmp_other/publicity/ksm4.jpg Group shot of just the TOS cast members: http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tmp_other/publicity/vintage_tmpcast.jpg The uncropped version of the official cast shot — notice the wooden beam hanging from the ceiling. http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/tmp_other/setphotos/cast_tmp01.jpg
I have never seen that first one... thanks cardinal biggles! I think I like Kirk's odd tabs. I'd have preferred them on everyone's uniform. Also, I prefer Spock sans collar. Decker's costume is muuuuustaaaaard.
Wow - I have seen each of those shots many times before, but had never noticed the anomalous shoulder tabs on Kirk's uniforms! How cool to still see new things in ST: TMP after so many years.... I never liked the look of the collarless Spock in any of those pictures - it just looks wrong somehow (which I'm sure is mostly down to just being used to it the other way).
Did anyone ever explain what Spock's collar was for, in Trek universe terms? Something to do with Kolinahr?
I was under the impression that it was a cultural adornment. In the Rec Room brief, other crewmen can be seen wearing artifacts from their ethnic/cultural background.
I always figured it was for warmth. He'd been living on Vulcan for the past couple of years, and now he was back on a ship whose air temperature was set for human comfort -- he probably needed to have on an extra layer until he reacclimated. Pretty sure it was something to do with keeping his makeup from smearing.
It's the same collar Spock has under his Vulcan robes when he arrives on ship. I suspect it was meant to show he was still "not one of us" rather than something as prosaic is preventing makeup smears.
I really liked the functionality of the TMP uniforms. As a guy affiliated with NASA and the Air Force the flightsuit/jump suit type uniform is the way to go. As for the colors, I wear a green one and dark blue one. I never gave much thought to the colors of the ones in the movie, there military type uniforms and not sports uniforms. Pockets are indeed a plus especially on the sleaves. Great place for your phone, communicator, or hand phaser. I think the ones on ST Enterprise are the most realistic of all. I do like the WOK uniforms. They look like formal dress uniforms and look great on the screen. It is not very realistic that you would dress that way as a daily standard uniform. When Kirk enters the Kobayashi Maru training center to address the cadets that is great, when he is running around on duty when the ships leaves, probably not. I like the jumpsuit so much I have told my wife I eventually see myself hitting the wardrobe "give up" button when I am older and going with the Dickey's Jumpuit with canvass shoes. My only choice will be if I want to go with short sleaves or long sleaves that day. Perhaps inspired as a child by ST: TMP uniforms.
How about that Chapel's in a blue-gray jumpsuit which she never wore in the film. Or that McCoy's collar is standard and not squared off like in the film.
They probably had most of the uniform variants made for the main cast members, hence the multiple costume changes for Kirk, McCoy, and Sulu (they're the ones that stick out in my mind the most, anyway). Someone — probably TGT — said that this photo was done at the end of the shoot, with each cast member wearing whatever their favorite costume was. What's really notable about this is that you've got Doohan wearing the leisure uniform with the button-front jacket that Chekov wore in the Rec Deck scene; Doohan didn't wear it once during the film.
I don't know. I remember reading a site, which sadly seems to now be dead, that that uniform was worn by Scotty in the scene when the Ilia probe was in main engineering during it's tour of the ship. This same page mentioned that the idea behind the multiple costume changes was to show the passage of time.