Hahahahahahahahaha! *sigh* i suppose you are right..... I did notice that as her waist gets a little thicker, her neck line gets a liiiiiittle lower. Haha. Men.
The "sand color" was a whole separate branch. You'll notice that Scotty also wore it. I don't know why Mitchell and Kelso did; probably assuming that helm and navigation would fall under the 'engineering' division rather than 'command' as in all other Trek series.
An in-universe idea I've favored is that Troi wanted to present herself as being informal to crewmembers seeking counseling. Another thing to consider is that it was a different time--the Enterprise was more often than not assigned to peaceful missions. It was mainly because Picard allowed it, though, IMO.
And the 'real world' reason was probably because of Gene himself. Any BS psychobabble that resulted in the creation of a "ship's counsellor" is not likely to put her in a uniform.
By the time Troi's blue dress came about, an ailing Roddenberry had long since stepped back into a supervisory position on TNG and was simply okaying or nixing things Berman was running by him. BS psychobabble = helping people with personal problems.
The "cosmic cheerleader" dress definately counts as a uniform. If you don't believe me, just ask that guy in the same dress.
Many people don't notice, but in the closing bridge scene of "Encounter at Farpoint", Tasha Yar is also wearing a skant.
Why would that be? They are of similar cuts and lengths. In fact the scoop collar makes Uhura's more goofy.
According to Grace Lee Whitney the TOS women's uniforms were all skants, an invention between her and William Ware Thiess after Grace was made to wear Sally Kellerman's black pants in a photo shoot. One leg of the TOS skant is wrapped by a divide of material, similar to culottes, so the skirt can't ride up too far. Skirt/pants = skant.
There was just something about that damn skant that made it look like a child's set of pajamas. The TOS version was different - it was just more dignified. TOS skirts looked like real uniforms. The skant did not. The skant was not a skirt. The skant was just short-shorts. Not the same thing.
The TOS minidress is different than the TNG "Skant" in that the minidress had a defined waist, while the TNG uniform dress was just a basic tube, it looked like a long shirt. There is a scene in one of the episode (can't recall the name), where Yeoman Rand is struggling with someone and we all got a good look up her skirt at her "granny panties." While some of the TOS minidresses might have been "skants," what Rand had on in that scene apparently wasn't. Plus, in case you didn't know, a Skant is a prostitute that can't get any action, usually because of her appearance. Skank and can't, equals skant.
I'd prefer 4 colors, partly because I don't think engineering and security are remotely similar in duties or training. * Gold for command (and the many operational duties outside engineering) * Blue for science (and medical, as duties and training are less dissimilar) * Green for engineering * Red for security