Season 5-7 uniform collars

[JesterFace]

The grey shouldered uniforms are worn in (at least) two different ways.

Different officers show more of the shirt underneath. But why? Is it a personal preference or does it mean something?

Here's what I mean, the V opening in the collar closes where the black part of the uniform begins but some have a more open collar.

 

[Tosk]

There's a zipper up the front. Some just have it a bit lower than others.

 

[The Wormhole]

Yeah, they did the same thing with the season 1-5 uniforms, as did the Voyager cast.

 

[tomswift2002]

They were similar to Picard's shirt in the later TNG seasons.

 

[trekfan39]

Personal preference decided by the crew member I would say, but I'm sure the costume people decided what looked best for each cast member. Also second best trek uniform behind the monster maroons IMO.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'm picturing a Starfleet handbook with "official uniform zipper guidelines" specifying exactly how many inches from the top is correct.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

Probably just personal preference. MY personal preference is the way Jadzia and Sisko have theirs in the pictures you shared -- zipper ends right at where the black lower part of the shirt meets the grey shoulder area.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I'm sure there's an element of actor comfort in there too. Having worn similar costumes over the years, I know that even in a tailored outfit these things allow better shoulder movement for some when the zipper is lower, especially when manipulating stuff as the shoulder pads tend to bunch up. As long as they aren't zipping it up and down between shots, I'd imagine they leave the zipper where it's comfortable for them.

What I'd like to know is, why O'Brien stopped rolling up his sleeves when he made the switch. When in the older uniforms, he'd ALWAYS roll up his sleeves regardless of what he was doing - even when he was at an official dinner function with a visiting guest ("Second Sight" et. al.). When the new greys came in, he stopped.

Mark

 

[urbandefault]

I'm sure there's an element of actor comfort in there too. Having worn similar costumes over the years, I know that even in a tailored outfit these things allow better shoulder movement for some when the zipper is lower, especially when manipulating stuff as the shoulder pads tend to bunch up. As long as they aren't zipping it up and down between shots, I'd imagine they leave the zipper where it's comfortable for them.

What I'd like to know is, why O'Brien stopped rolling up his sleeves when he made the switch. When in the older uniforms, he'd ALWAYS roll up his sleeves regardless of what he was doing - even when he was at an official dinner function with a visiting guest ("Second Sight" et. al.). When the new greys came in, he stopped.

Mark

Didn't the FC costumes have rank stripes on the sleeves? That probably made rolling them up difficult.

 

[C.E. Evans]

What I'd like to know is, why O'Brien stopped rolling up his sleeves when he made the switch. When in the older uniforms, he'd ALWAYS roll up his sleeves regardless of what he was doing - even when he was at an official dinner function with a visiting guest ("Second Sight" et. al.). When the new greys came in, he stopped.

It could be that when the sleeves of those uniforms are rolled or pushed up, they constrict around the arm tightly, making it uncomfortable after awhile.

 

[JesterFace]

MY personal preference is the way Jadzia and Sisko have theirs in the pictures you shared -- zipper ends right at where the black lower part of the shirt meets the grey shoulder area.

Same here.
If the zipper is open more like O'Brien and Bashir have in those pictures, somehow it looks less official.

 

[Armus]

I liked how O'brien kept his unzipped lower, showed more of the colorful turtleneck. These uniforms needed a belt or something for more visual variety.

 

[Tosk]

It could be that when the sleeves of those uniforms are rolled or pushed up, they constrict around the arm tightly, making it uncomfortable after awhile.

That might be why in-universe, but if they wanted to they (the show creators) could easily have made him a uniform with faked rolled-up-sleeves just like they did with his 1-3 jumpsuit.

 

[C.E. Evans]

That might be why in-universe...

I actually think it's true in real life. When LeVar Burton had his costume sleeves pushed up in First Contact, it didn't look particularly good, IMO. Probably didn't feel good either.
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Certain fabrics do not fold up well or it may be that these uniform costumes are made of slightly thicker material than the previous ones.

...but if they wanted to they (the show creators) could easily have made him a uniform with faked rolled-up-sleeves just like they did with his 1-3 jumpsuit.

Or they may have simply thought he looked better without rolled or pushed up sleeves in the new digs.

 

[Tosk]

Or they may have simply thought he looked better without rolled or pushed up sleeves in the new digs.

That's kind of my point. Meaney didn't actually have rolled up sleeves, his uniform was made to look that way. (The sleeves could not be unrolled, they were sewn to look a certain way.) So he would not have the comfort (or not) factor of really having to actually roll them. Aesthetics would be the only real consideration.

When LeVar Burton had his costume sleeves pushed up in First Contact, it didn't look particularly good, IMO.

Because his were really rolled up (due to the uniform not actually having been made for LeVar, so it didn't fit properly) instead of being tailored that way.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

You might be confusing the new FC uniforms with Generations. In the earlier film, they made the last-minute decision to swap out the uniforms they'd made for the film with the existing DS9 batch. Except for Stewart and Spiner, who had custom-fit uniforms, everyone else on the cast had to use spares from the DS9 wardrobe and used what fit best. This was evident on Burton and Frakes (the latter of whom rolled his sleeves up because they were too short), while Dorn, McFadden and Sirtis simply kept their TNG outfits.

Mark

 

[velour]

I'm sure there's an element of actor comfort in there too. Having worn similar costumes over the years, I know that even in a tailored outfit these things allow better shoulder movement for some when the zipper is lower, especially when manipulating stuff as the shoulder pads tend to bunch up. As long as they aren't zipping it up and down between shots, I'd imagine they leave the zipper where it's comfortable for them.

What I'd like to know is, why O'Brien stopped rolling up his sleeves when he made the switch. When in the older uniforms, he'd ALWAYS roll up his sleeves regardless of what he was doing - even when he was at an official dinner function with a visiting guest ("Second Sight" et. al.). When the new greys came in, he stopped.

Mark

Are you saying that it was the actor Colm Meaney who had the discretion to have the sleeves rolled up, for comfort or for whatever reason?

I was under the impression that O'Brien had rolled up sleeves because the director/writers wanted to project the image of O'Brien as a working class, blue-collar (O'Brien's wasn't actually blue, but you know what I mean) type of guy. Then again, maybe it was the actor Meaney who suggested the rolled up sleeves in the first place.

I don't really know the behind the scenes reason about this. But I guess I would be surprised if the TNG director/writers did give the actors that much discretion in how they wore their costumes.

 

[Nakita Akita]

I'm picturing a Starfleet handbook with "official uniform zipper guidelines" specifying exactly how many inches from the top is correct.

That's how it was in the US Army.
If you had on the jacket it had to be zipped to a certain point.

 

[Stephen!]

This was evident on Burton and Frakes

Were these one-piece uniforms? It would explain why Soran ended up stripping Geordi naked, if he couldn't just remove the top part.

 

[Nakita Akita]

Were these one-piece uniforms? It would explain why Soran ended up stripping Geordi naked, if he couldn't just remove the top part.

Naked Geordie!!???
Thankfully I seem to have no memory of that.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

In said deleted scenes, poor Geordi had his uniform top removed so Soran could inject a heart something into him for torturous reasons. Unfortunately, this was his later TNG uniform, which was two-piece. Either way, Soran was nice enough to put it back on when Geordi was returned; the latter then got changed into a DS9 uniform and went back to work.

Stewart and Spiner had custom two-piece DS9 style uniforms. Everyone else was stuck with the stock jumpsuits.

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Mark