Fashion expert Tim Gunn sat down with Alan Kistler to discuss "Star Trek" fashion. Linky. It only covers the original pilot and the classic series, with special attention to Uhura's mini-skirt.
Balderdash. It is not hard - conceptually - "to go back that far" to think about the society and the culture. It was only the sixties for crying out loud.
The pilot uniforms are “really no different from Lost in Space”? They “look like workout clothes”? It was the studio that made the women wear miniskirts? Grace Lee Whitney and Nichelle Nichols were the ones who wanted to show their legs. These guys don’t have a fucking clue.
It wasn't the actresses that demanded drastic costume changes. They just got on board with the miniskirt craze of the time. I think it's difficult for Gunn, a contemporary clothes man, to look at would-be visions of the future coming out of 40 years ago - now an unfashionable time that created unfashionable (even for them) costumes of the future. I look forward to future installments. Curious what of merit can be taken away from Gunn, a professional, in my own costume designing daydreams, if anything at all.
No offense, but using the word "balderdash" sort of dates your post, ironically In this sense I'm going to have to agree with them. For example, here's a publicity shot from Lost in Space: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/da/Lost_In_Space.jpg Roughly the same kind of fabric for the pilot tunics are used for the LiS mens' tops, along with the turtlenecks for everyone. Remove the yellow from John Robinson's top and you essentially have something closer to the TOS pilot uniform, too. Yes, the key aesthetic difference between the TOS-pilot and LiS uniforms is the color, but it's also something that Gunn acknowledged in the clip when he considers the later TOS uniforms to be superior to the pilot. I disagree with part of this post, only because reviving the 60s seems to be quite fashionable these days. Banana Republic has an entire line modeled after Mad Men, singers like Adele and Amy Winehouse (well...) pattern themselves as such, suits are slim-fitting again, etc. etc. Perhaps most relevant to Trek is that XI kept the basic TOS design intact when really, nothing could have stopped them from designing completely different uniforms if the producers really wanted to. Fashion cycles tend to repeat and we might be in the midst of a 60s repeat, or elements of 60s fashion might be here to stay, but in either case I wouldn't call it an unfashionable time.
Both segements were a waste of time because the hosts wouldn't shut up and thus we only got a few snarky comments from Tim. They didn't even touch on the gowns and guest costumes that Theiss designed for the show, which would have been where the best commentary would have come from. Also, I'm tired of people trotting out so many of the old chestnut "facts" that are of dubious veracity. The network did this and blah blah blah.
TOS and LiS have always seemed similar to me in costume. Velour tops in big blocks of color. And TOS tops actually have always reminded me of long sleeved sweatshirts - workout clothes, in other words.
Are you suggesting that the word “balderdash” is old-fashioned? Poppycock, tommyrot and twaddle, I say!
Was there supposed to be a part three? It says more next week with Gunn but it's been more than a week and nadda.
I agree with that. It's also an exceptionally documented and influential era as far as pop culture and fashion is concerned. So, the mini skirts and the overall outdated perception of the role of women shouldn't come as a surprise. Besides, "sex sells" is still considered valid, isn't it? But I thought it was kind of funny how uncomfortable they were with the shortness of the mini skirts. They sounded a lot more prudish than the people in the 60s they criticized at the beginning. I've only seen the segment in the OP's link and I must say I'm not enthusiastic about what Tim Gunn said about gender in fashion. He sounded a bit old-fashioned and entrenched in the traditional gender dichotomy.