Im a real fashion plate (Uniform Designs)

[Cary L. Brown]

Computer said:
Hello all,

So I had to dig out my old Windows 98 computer when XP wouldnt stop crashing, burried in my hard drive among various other things was my old uniform templates.

I took one particular design I was fond of and extended it into a full line.

For the upcoming spring collection we have Enlisted Personel duty uniforms.

Next up we have the Officers Uniform collection. Bringing back a slightly retro yet modern take on the old TWOK design.

And finally we round out our collection with 2 variations of an Admirals Uniform featuring a UFP seal belt buckle.

Suggestions, ideas for other designs or your own uniform concepts are welcome.

Well, all I can say is that we're not talking Star Trek... we're talking "Goth Trek" here.

Sorry, but "all black" uniforms are neither psychologically a good idea nor are they practical. I HATE this sort of thing (I never liked the revised B-5 command uniforms either, but always liked the original Earthforce ones... but even those original ones would have been unacceptable if it weren't for the liberal use of color throughout the filming environment!)

Remember that the TOS uniform consisted of black pants, boots, and UNDERSHIRTS. The color of the uniform was provided solely by either the tunic or by the jumpsuit worn over the "basic black" parts. So I'm not saying black is bad... just that TOO MUCH black is bad.

Then again, it's your art... I'm just giving my 2cents, as you asked for.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

hutt359 said:

BolianAdmiral said:
Ugh... WAY, WAY, WAY, too much black... this is Star Trek, not the 3rd Reich... ours is a bright universe... TOS was colorful, TNG was colorful, VOY at least had some semblance of color, and then DS9 killed it dead. If TOS went for color, I say honor the legacy of the original... give our heroes more color, and less black. Just my 2 cents.

TOS was colorful... because CBS ordered it. Looks at The Cage. Battle ship gray and black bridge. Gold, Beige, and blue uniforms. Much more like the modern navy of the time...

Actually, it was gold, SALMON, and blue-grey. But you're essentially correct. CBS directed Desilu to add color. They did. Both in set details and in lighting, as well as in constuming.

Still, the general colors used in the customing aren't really all THAT vivid, are they? I mean, gold ("gold" not meaning YELLOW, mind you... "gold" inherently has a more "olive-tint" effect than plain yellow does), Cyan (pale sky blue) and red... well, other than possibly toning down the red slightly (shifting it just a bit more towards the blood, or rust, tone), I don't see the colors used in the classic uniforms to be particularly oppressively bright. And the pilot uniforms were, if anything, TOO muted (they'd have worked much better if the sets weren't also done in very muted tones... there's a happy medium to be found there).

I have a dark grey (almost black) track suit with bright colored trim, very similar to those designs seen in this thread, actually. I like it because of the contrast between that and the forested areas where I go running. If I were living in a totally grey, dull, environment, I'd probably wear brighter clothing. Visual variety is important.

So... if the interiors of ships are going to be done in very colorful ways... all bright colors and so forth... black or grey costumes make better sense. But if we're going to see a ship interior that looks more like a machine (as I think we'd all prefer) I think that more uniformly colorful costumes make more sense.

Honestly, I'd rather see people wearing the "ridiculously colorful" costume shown way above than see them wearing the "all-black-except-for-piping" costumes.

 

[JJohnson]

Nice design...somewhat reminiscent of my own.

This is basically a TWOK jacket with the TNG styling on it. The ranks go on the rank stripe, and the belt is a simple arrowhead design. The undershirt is zip-up, like in Nemesis, but the jacket is a wrap-around like from the TOS movies, which to me, seemed more in keeping with naval tradition, etc. Much better than the gray pajamas.

There are more designs at my web page, showing the undershirt, 2 variants, captain's jackets, and alternate uniforms for personnel.

Keep up the good design work,

James

 

[Venardhi]

Scatter said:
Similar to the designs I made for Illustrious a while back...

A little. . . black for my tastes. I understand keeping with the TNG-> design ethic, but how about something a bit less depressing?

 

[Wingsley]

What's so depressing about a single color?

I see the real issue here being the choice of black as te overall color. Personally, I think black looks cool, but it isn't the only option. How about midnight blue, or maybe teal, or silver?

 

[Data Holmes]

Cary L. Brown said:

hutt359 said:

BolianAdmiral said:
Ugh... WAY, WAY, WAY, too much black... this is Star Trek, not the 3rd Reich... ours is a bright universe... TOS was colorful, TNG was colorful, VOY at least had some semblance of color, and then DS9 killed it dead. If TOS went for color, I say honor the legacy of the original... give our heroes more color, and less black. Just my 2 cents.

TOS was colorful... because CBS ordered it. Looks at The Cage. Battle ship gray and black bridge. Gold, Beige, and blue uniforms. Much more like the modern navy of the time...

Actually, it was gold, SALMON, and blue-grey. But you're essentially correct. CBS directed Desilu to add color. They did. Both in set details and in lighting, as well as in constuming.

Still, the general colors used in the customing aren't really all THAT vivid, are they? I mean, gold ("gold" not meaning YELLOW, mind you... "gold" inherently has a more "olive-tint" effect than plain yellow does), Cyan (pale sky blue) and red... well, other than possibly toning down the red slightly (shifting it just a bit more towards the blood, or rust, tone), I don't see the colors used in the classic uniforms to be particularly oppressively bright. And the pilot uniforms were, if anything, TOO muted (they'd have worked much better if the sets weren't also done in very muted tones... there's a happy medium to be found there).

I have a dark grey (almost black) track suit with bright colored trim, very similar to those designs seen in this thread, actually. I like it because of the contrast between that and the forested areas where I go running. If I were living in a totally grey, dull, environment, I'd probably wear brighter clothing. Visual variety is important.

So... if the interiors of ships are going to be done in very colorful ways... all bright colors and so forth... black or grey costumes make better sense. But if we're going to see a ship interior that looks more like a machine (as I think we'd all prefer) I think that more uniformly colorful costumes make more sense.

Honestly, I'd rather see people wearing the "ridiculously colorful" costume shown way above than see them wearing the "all-black-except-for-piping" costumes.

Um, have you taken a look at real military uniforms? or even NASA uniforms? Police? Fire? EMS?


navy: Aside from the job related color used on the flight deck of a carrier, where it was done specifically because of the noise and confusion of said deck during launch and recovery missions dictated the use, they are all limited to one or two colors.

 

[Computer]

Well if we are going for purpose only then this is the only possibility, the shoulder color is unneccesary and anything else that might be on newer era uniforms aside from the delta shield/communicator.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

hutt359 said:

Cary L. Brown said:

hutt359 said:

BolianAdmiral said:
Ugh... WAY, WAY, WAY, too much black... this is Star Trek, not the 3rd Reich... ours is a bright universe... TOS was colorful, TNG was colorful, VOY at least had some semblance of color, and then DS9 killed it dead. If TOS went for color, I say honor the legacy of the original... give our heroes more color, and less black. Just my 2 cents.

TOS was colorful... because CBS ordered it. Looks at The Cage. Battle ship gray and black bridge. Gold, Beige, and blue uniforms. Much more like the modern navy of the time...

Actually, it was gold, SALMON, and blue-grey. But you're essentially correct. CBS directed Desilu to add color. They did. Both in set details and in lighting, as well as in constuming.

Still, the general colors used in the customing aren't really all THAT vivid, are they? I mean, gold ("gold" not meaning YELLOW, mind you... "gold" inherently has a more "olive-tint" effect than plain yellow does), Cyan (pale sky blue) and red... well, other than possibly toning down the red slightly (shifting it just a bit more towards the blood, or rust, tone), I don't see the colors used in the classic uniforms to be particularly oppressively bright. And the pilot uniforms were, if anything, TOO muted (they'd have worked much better if the sets weren't also done in very muted tones... there's a happy medium to be found there).

I have a dark grey (almost black) track suit with bright colored trim, very similar to those designs seen in this thread, actually. I like it because of the contrast between that and the forested areas where I go running. If I were living in a totally grey, dull, environment, I'd probably wear brighter clothing. Visual variety is important.

So... if the interiors of ships are going to be done in very colorful ways... all bright colors and so forth... black or grey costumes make better sense. But if we're going to see a ship interior that looks more like a machine (as I think we'd all prefer) I think that more uniformly colorful costumes make more sense.

Honestly, I'd rather see people wearing the "ridiculously colorful" costume shown way above than see them wearing the "all-black-except-for-piping" costumes.

Um, have you taken a look at real military uniforms? or even NASA uniforms? Police? Fire? EMS?

navy: Aside from the job related color used on the flight deck of a carrier, where it was done specifically because of the noise and confusion of said deck during launch and recovery missions dictated the use, they are all limited to one or two colors.

Um... are you aware that I served as a military officer for a number of years? (Not like I keep that a particular SECRET, you know?)

Now, for most of what you just mentioned... you need to realize that tactical uniforms are different for a REASON. They're supposed to be unobtrusive, almost invisible. And even for "beat cop" uniforms, they're a blend between "unthreatening" and "stealthy" (a cop going into a hostile situation shouldn't be standing out too visibly, should he?).

You mention firefighters... I think you must not have paid very close attention, because firefighter clothing, WHEN ON A CALL, is intentionally very bright. For the exact oppositive of the above... you WANT to be seen, to be noticed. (Particularly if you get into trouble.) Same applies to flight-deck personnel... it's not JUST because they need to be easily identified by job, it's also that the pilots need to be able to SEE THEM without having to spend precious time concentrating on LOOKING for them. Carrier landings are insane enough as they are, after all!

But back to "real military uniforms." Look, for instance, at the PT uniform. In areas like the former West Germany, which was a very green area, the PT uniform was typically a generic gray sweatsuit. However, look at what the folks living in the desert are wearing for PT... brightly colored t-shirts and shorts (typically specific colors relating to the specific unit... ie, the 14th combat engineers have brilliant red t-shirts with the brigade crest on them).

Also realize that the average tour in the sand is 18 months. Then you get to come back to "the real world" and life among "real people" again. Even given that, there's a real problem with depression among returnees. Even among those who haven't been in hostile locations, just FYI. There's a REAL PSYCHOLOGICAL NEED for color. Over there, you're really getting a lot of BLUE (from the sky) but everything else is uniform brown/tan coloration... and psychologically, this isn't really very good for you.

 

[Data Holmes]

Cary L. Brown said:
Um... are you aware that I served as a military officer for a number of years? (Not like I keep that a particular SECRET, you know?)

Ok, I wasn't aware of that. It just means you should know what I'm talking about...

Now, for most of what you just mentioned... you need to realize that tactical uniforms are different for a REASON.

Yes, I know that, but we aren't talking about tactical uniforms, but standard duty uniforms.

They're supposed to be unobtrusive, almost invisible. And even for "beat cop" uniforms, they're a blend between "unthreatening" and "stealthy" (a cop going into a hostile situation shouldn't be standing out too visibly, should he?).

Standard police uniform, is a blue or white (depending on rank) "dress shirt" and dark blue or black slacks.

You mention firefighters... I think you must not have paid very close attention, because firefighter clothing, WHEN ON A CALL, is intentionally very bright. For the exact oppositive of the above... you WANT to be seen, to be noticed. (Particularly if you get into trouble.)

There bunker gear is colorful and bright (mostly, there are some departments which use black bunker gear). Their daily uniforms typically consist of a Blue or white "work" shirt (depending on rank) and blue or black work slacks. Some departments do allow a Polo shirt or Turtle neck to be warn, typically in the dark blue, with some small embroidery of either station/unit crest or generic FD.

Same applies to flight-deck personnel... it's not JUST because they need to be easily identified by job, it's also that the pilots need to be able to SEE THEM without having to spend precious time concentrating on LOOKING for them. Carrier landings are insane enough as they are, after all!

Indeed, and I could understand such uniforms being worn on a shuttle deck or in a dry dock, but on the bridge???

But back to "real military uniforms." Look, for instance, at the PT uniform. In areas like the former West Germany, which was a very green area, the PT uniform was typically a generic gray sweatsuit. However, look at what the folks living in the desert are wearing for PT... brightly colored t-shirts and shorts (typically specific colors relating to the specific unit... ie, the 14th combat engineers have brilliant red t-shirts with the brigade crest on them).

Again, not disagreeing with you. PT uniforms should allow for a level of esprit de corps with individual unit flair. But not really daily duty uniforms.


In my humble opinion, the best uniforms overall in concept were the uniforms of the cage, followed closely by the uniforms of TMP. With the "Monster Maroons" of the TWOK+ era being the best dress uniform concept.


Also, everyone I've spoken to in Police, Fire, and EMS say that they overall prefer two piece uniforms over "jumpsuits" for general wear. Jumpsuits are nice for long term wear, but apparently are a bitch when you have to use the bathroom.

Also realize that the average tour in the sand is 18 months. Then you get to come back to "the real world" and life among "real people" again. Even given that, there's a real problem with depression among returnees. Even among those who haven't been in hostile locations, just FYI. There's a REAL PSYCHOLOGICAL NEED for color. Over there, you're really getting a lot of BLUE (from the sky) but everything else is uniform brown/tan coloration... and psychologically, this isn't really very good for you.

Understandable... which is why I always liked TOS's use of colorful sets and "social gathering" spots like the rec rooms or ten forward, nor the allowance of off duty personnel to wear civilian clothing of their choice.

But I don't think that this would result in the standard duty uniform of starfleet to become a mash of a billion different colors.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

hutt359 said:... which is why I always liked TOS's use of colorful sets and "social gathering" spots like the rec rooms or ten forward, nor the allowance of off duty personnel to wear civilian clothing of their choice.

But I don't think that this would result in the standard duty uniform of starfleet to become a mash of a billion different colors.

You're using hyperbole there. Nobody ever suggested that it should really be a mash of a billion different colors, did they? That's certainly not what we saw in the original series.

I think that the first season of TOS looked better than the later seasons, overall. Part of that was because the sets were done with fairly reasonably lighting. The excessive use of colored lights and colored gels really came later. (The principle exception being the overhead lamps around the rim of the bridge, which got "colorized" sometime during the first season, unfortunately!)

The amount and level of color seen through most of the first season was just about correct. And if you look at the second season, with the color level turned down just a bit... it looks fine, too. (In the third season, you have to turn it down quite a bit...)

The sets were mainly "battleship greys" (a bit more towards the "sky blue" than you'd likely go in reality, I think... but that can be fixed without really "changing" anything). The costumes were, overall, not OVERPOWERINGLY colorful (not even the red engineer/services/security tunics, if you look at the first season... same costumes, just less "vibrancy" to the color... and it looks a lot better.

Basically, the first season of TOS is what I'd like to see them shoot for if they do a TOS-era scene on Enterprise (or a similar Starfleet ship). If it's set well before then, I'd hope that they'd use Pike's bridge as their reference for the sets (I'd love to see how someone could make that cheesy-looking pilot-episode viewer into something worth seeing on screen, while still keeping the original's key characteristics!)

Nobody's talking about going into "Jimmy and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" mode here... I'm just saying that I think that all muted, dark colors is a BAD idea.

Make sense?

 

[Data Holmes]

Cary L. Brown said:

hutt359 said:... which is why I always liked TOS's use of colorful sets and "social gathering" spots like the rec rooms or ten forward, nor the allowance of off duty personnel to wear civilian clothing of their choice.

But I don't think that this would result in the standard duty uniform of starfleet to become a mash of a billion different colors.

You're using hyperbole there. Nobody ever suggested that it should really be a mash of a billion different colors, did they? That's certainly not what we saw in the original series.

I think that the first season of TOS looked better than the later seasons, overall. Part of that was because the sets were done with fairly reasonably lighting. The excessive use of colored lights and colored gels really came later. (The principle exception being the overhead lamps around the rim of the bridge, which got "colorized" sometime during the first season, unfortunately!)

The amount and level of color seen through most of the first season was just about correct. And if you look at the second season, with the color level turned down just a bit... it looks fine, too. (In the third season, you have to turn it down quite a bit...)

The sets were mainly "battleship greys" (a bit more towards the "sky blue" than you'd likely go in reality, I think... but that can be fixed without really "changing" anything). The costumes were, overall, not OVERPOWERINGLY colorful (not even the red engineer/services/security tunics, if you look at the first season... same costumes, just less "vibrancy" to the color... and it looks a lot better.

Basically, the first season of TOS is what I'd like to see them shoot for if they do a TOS-era scene on Enterprise (or a similar Starfleet ship). If it's set well before then, I'd hope that they'd use Pike's bridge as their reference for the sets (I'd love to see how someone could make that cheesy-looking pilot-episode viewer into something worth seeing on screen, while still keeping the original's key characteristics!)

Nobody's talking about going into "Jimmy and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" mode here... I'm just saying that I think that all muted, dark colors is a BAD idea.

Make sense?

Yes. I just don't know if I agree with you totally. The cage uniforms, I think, were far better than the regular run unis. The ones they replaced the cage ones with always screamed Kids clothing to me. Bright Red, Blue, and Greenish Gold. Could you imagine the Rec Room scene from TMP with the crew wearing the TOS uniforms? It's look like?

 

[hellsgate]

I ~love~ the U.S.S. Illustrious designs, however, I'd vary the commbadges a bit. Use the ones from the alt-futures/universes, ("All Good Things" & "Endgame".)

 

[Unicron]

JJohnson said:
Nice design...somewhat reminiscent of my own.

This is basically a TWOK jacket with the TNG styling on it. The ranks go on the rank stripe, and the belt is a simple arrowhead design. The undershirt is zip-up, like in Nemesis, but the jacket is a wrap-around like from the TOS movies, which to me, seemed more in keeping with naval tradition, etc. Much better than the gray pajamas.

There are more designs at my web page, showing the undershirt, 2 variants, captain's jackets, and alternate uniforms for personnel.

Keep up the good design work,

James

Those aren't too bad. If I may make a small suggestion, it would be that the belts have their arrowhead buckles sideways rather than upright, a la Yesterday's Enterprise as they mesh better that way. Just my view.

 

[JJohnson]

I actually did that on the captain's uniforms...

and the off-duty readiness uniforms...

and the counselor's variants...

What do you think?

James

 

[Data Holmes]

JJ, I really like your uniforms.

 

[Wingsley]

I would like to make a suggestion:

I think the round, blue UFP seal would make an even cooler buckle.

 

[Data Holmes]

Wingsley said:
I would like to make a suggestion:

I think the round, blue UFP seal would make an even cooler buckle.

That could work...


I'd say don't bring the black shoulder yoke into the arm sleeves. It makes the shoulder overly complex and looks odd.

Look at how the colored yoke was handled on the enlisted jumper in the TWOK uni series to see how it should be done.

 

[Unicron]

The last variant is kind of interesting. I'd never really thought about trying to do an X pattern, but it doesn't look too bad.

 

[JJohnson]

Just to throw it in here, here's the two variants for dress uniforms:

Dress 1:

Dress 2:

The only real difference is that the second has the 'years of service' pins put back into them. Both have the rank displayed on the cuffs in addition to the rank stripe. Redundant yes, but so was it on the TWOK uniforms too.

And as for the counselor uniforms, the first is her undershirt, the second a slightly less complex variant of the uniform (similar to the Generations variant never seen), the third is a similar uniform with a frontal sash of black, and the fourth is a wrap-around similar to Kirk's alternate uniforms, a simple right-over-left uniform with the arrowhead as the lower clasp. The counselor has the option of using her standard uniform collared shirt, or can use just the undershirt and jacket.

Undershirts:

Anyone else have some uniform designs out there? Cool thread here...

James

 

[JJohnson]

hutt359 said:
JJ, I really like your uniforms.

Thanks! They're for a fanfic I'm writing off-and-on, called "Star Trek: Higher Calling." I'll work more on it after my Winter Retreat trip...

James