Theiss' Early Designs for the TNG Uniforms

Yeah, it's definitely unique:


I always preferred the TNG Season 6 - DS9 Season 5 versions, myself:
http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0346/5761/products/tng-admiral-burgundy-1.jpg?v=1401916063
http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net...yev2370.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20060622121047
https://trekfoundations.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/journeysend025.jpg
http://www.startrek.com/legacy_media/images/200507/voy-198-admiral-bullock/320x240.jpg
http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net...ision/latest?cb=20140114174224&path-prefix=en

Though the Season 2 version was nifty also:
http://images.auctionworks.com/hi/3/3282/admiral-29.jpg
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net...dth-down/180?cb=20121205121733&path-prefix=en

I never really cared for the Season 3-5 version.
http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net...ision/latest?cb=20111111204516&path-prefix=en
http://media.tumblr.com/e3be844da81db5ebf0558ee169dd25fc/tumblr_inline_ms8rcoxOTb1qz4rgp.jpg

And the less said about Admiral Janeway's atrocity of a tunic, the better:
http://media.tumblr.com/3f24c026685ee25fd3f4e0a634d56dd5/tumblr_inline_ms8rb35zrO1qz4rgp.jpg
http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net...ision/latest?cb=20081109025430&path-prefix=en

 

My favorite 24th century Admiral's uniform.

 

I understood that the standard uniforms by Theiss were supposed to resemble human anatomy, but I could never get a handle on exactly what the logic behind the admiral uniform was beyond "it's a uniform OF THE FUTURE (future...future...future...). It's definitely out there, I'll give it that.

 

The ones with the 'side vents' remind me of the uniforms seen in the engineering test footage from Star Trek: Phase II. I do actually quite like the prototype ones seen in the black & white photo in the OP, they look like casual style space uniforms more than they do the 'space leotards' we eventually got. Stick some NASA style patches or something to them and they'd be set.

 

Very interesting and informative post, Karzak. I hadn't really given it much thought until now that the DS9-VOY jumpsuits continued to evolve throughout their series just like the TNG uniforms did before them.

 

Yeah, a little over-styled for my taste. I always thought it was stupid for the admirals to have a uniform of a completely different design, anyway. The regular uniform with higher rank insignia would be fine.

 

I don't think the differences in the earlier seasons of DS9 are considered strong enough to be considered a variant; call it 'manufacturing tweaks' or whatever.
I did read that the Voyager uniform was designed slightly differently from DS9, while to casual appearence the costumes are virtually identical; for VOY Blackman added pockets (and a belt i think. or some belt-like fabric). They were also a drop looser on the actors; and the removable jacket was a separate costume piece (i can't recall a single VOY instance of the jacket being unzipped) as the producers did not want a visible fastener the actors would wear a non-closing jacket for those scenes.

In the second part; it's possible the producers of Voyager were looking for an altogether new uniform from TNG and DS9; but eventually settled on a slightly modified DS9 look.
Certainly the grey quilted shoulder style was originally designed for FC, but worked well for the 'darker' DS9 themes, so they were able to make additional "dark grey" uniforms at virtually the same cost as the original DS9 costumes while the design and development costs were absorbed by the movie budget. The now-depreciated DS9 uniforms probably were probably used by extras on Voy.

 

I think it's pretty obvious the Voyager "jacket" was a separate piece. In various shots throughout the series it's well apparent that the costumes are usually the coveralls version. The point being that (through the magic of TV) we are supposed to think it's all one and the same garment, the same way Ro's obviously spandex one-piece uniform in "Ensign Ro" winds up having a removable jacket when she goes to the refugee colony midway through the episode.

 

^^I was thinking about Ensign Ro

 

I always thought it must have been very hot in those latter TNG/DS9/VOY uniforms where they had a puffy jacket over the coverall over a turtleneck. But, you know how those 24th Century fabrics can automagically maintain a comfortable temperature, even if our heroes accidentally step outside an airlock!

 

And those uniforms hide lovehandles and things like that, there are no fat people in Starfleet, or so they want you to believe...

 

I'm pretty sure the color difference is only due to cinematography and the difference in color reproduction between the seasons. (The image quality gets better each season of DS9.)

You can see the lavender undershirts clearly in a several of the promotional photos for season 1. The color they chose does seem to "go grey" very easily in photography.

 

The reality, of course, is that the costumes were probably tailored to look way heavier than they really were. Things like the turtlenecks of the uniform etc are most likely simply a piece of fabric sewn into the top of the costumes, except in scenes where the actors are specifically required to remove parts of their uniforms. The 'smoke & mirrors' magic of Hollywood. As long as it looks "right" on screen then they can get away with it.

 

I don't know. It seems like it starts out pretty lavendar-y and then over the course of the series they lose the oomph from the intial dye jobs and then new shirts get issued. Certainly there are plenty of exampls of when it;s clear it's the lighting of the episode and color correction are to blame, but I don't know that I believe the undershirts were consistently the same color throughout the run of DS9 and Voyager.

 

In an earlier article I linked, Blackman states that he designed the uniforms to give the actors a more 'athletic' appearence, with tight undershirts and subtle muscle/abs padding (and less subtle) shoulder padding. "In the 24th century, people are more aware of the importance of health and work out continuously" or something like that. I think the mock turtlenecks were a full undershirt "most of the time" rather than "when script demanded it", and likely contained part of the muscle padding.