The Borg were on the attack, the Dominion were plotting to overthrow the Federation and the Klingons were on the offensive. Also there was a new feature film with all new design in the works, so it was time for a new change for Starfleet as the bright colours were thrown out and replaced with something more fitting for an era of doom and gloom.
Introduced in Star Trek First Contact, the new uniform was an evolution of the previous design initially created for Deep Space Nine’s more ‘hands on’ style. The ‘First Contact’ uniform was a bit of a departure from what we’d seen in the Next Generation era. The original Star Trek uniforms were designed in an era where colour television was brand spanking new and as such, they were bright, bold and matched the multicoloured mood lights of the sets.
By 1996 that idea was long outdated. The Next Generation offered a unique and still rather elegant style, but as science fiction became more focused on CGI and media output was more focused on the real rather than the fantastical, a new style was needed for Starfleet.
FIRST CONTACT ERA, 2373-2380’s
Brought on board by director Jonathan Frakes, Deborah Everton took on the task of redesigning the outfit, whom she still insists on giving credit Bob Blackman for creating the template for. For a new generation and an action orientated film she planned something more action-worthy, something rougher and militarised.
Using the base uniform designed for DS9, Everton retained a lot of the original design when adding her new approach. Using the same basic pattern and shape as it’s predecessor, the uniforms design was given more complex look with new layers to utilise the higher quality cinematic film, primarily by redesigning the shoulder design with added detailing and inverted colours.
The DS9 style was initially a soft wool jumpsuit with a black base and red shoulder yolk, complimented by a lilac under-shirt. The ‘First Contact’ style inverted that colour scheme, replacing the colour coded shoulders with a quilted rib-textured shoulder panel; the same basic military fabric type used for the Monster Maroons. The shoulders were top-stitched vertically in striped an eight of an inch apart with top-stitched seams and a matching coloured mitred edge.
The basic construction was almost exact to the the DS9 style; a black jumpsuit made from a high quality wool gaberdine pulled in at the waist. Captains however got a little more special treatment as Picard was given a two-piece uniform with high waist trousers and a looser jacket to properly showcase the famed Picard Maneuver.
Of course, that’s reality. On screen the idea was seemingly to have a one piece uniform that would magically separate into a two piece. On more than one occasion officers seen wearing the jumpsuit would magically appear to have a two piece uniform. Which was intentional, even if the construction of one and two pieces were a bit different! On both versions the department is shown as the middle stripe on a layered cuff, however the colour-coded divisions are better seen as high collar undershirts, again similar to the previous version with more detail.
Similar in build to the lilac and grey shirts used in Deep Space Nine and Voyager, the First Contact style shirts were a double-knit cotton build, colour coded to department – a wine or berry for Command; a blue teal for sciences; and mustard yellow for Operations. Unlike the previous version however, the zip was placed visibly on the front and hidden with padded piping to highlight the closure. Of course, there’s no zips in the 24th century, apparently, so the illusion of it being future space magic technology was retained by sealing the top of the shirt with clasps that would hide the zipper from sigh; and for scenes where an open-shirt was needed, the costuming department would just switch them out with a new one minus a zip.
Everton’s initial cut of the uniform remained intact through it’s life span, however as it made it’s debut in film, Deep Space Nine’s wardrobe changed to match the new Starfleet style. With DS9 having a longer and more consistent production schedule, the wardrobe department would make several tweaks and changes over time as they perfected the style and construction.
One of the most obvious changes was the collar of the outer uniform. The First Contact style had a curved collar on the grey panels, however Deep Space Nine’s had a sharp mitred edge. Other changes were more subtle, including slits in the cuffs on some uniforms and a thicker waistband for Sisko’s two-piece uniform.
Of all the tweaked components, under-shirts went through the most variation. The method of hiding the zip pulls were perfected and later a panel was added behind the top of the zip to save it rubbing against the actors necks. Other changes were largely cosmetic; such as Worf’s grey yolk being shorter in height to emphasise his build, and later seasons of Deep Space Nine saw visible top stitching applied to the mitred edge as well as the quilted panels.
The complexity of the outfit did make for a few weird mistakes and subtle differences you might not notice at first glance. One of Bashir’s uniforms saw an uneven mitred edge, with one side folded and stitched in the standard diagonal, the other a flat square. Though the most obvious was Sisko’s original FC uniform, which had an oversized yolk, no cuff details and for reasons unknown to anyone, the communicator on the grey panels and not black base.
While a lot of these weird errors went unnoticed, it does make it easier for replicating fan made uniforms. After all, if the professional costume department could make mistakes, making a mistake in your own home made uniform would just mean it’s more screen accurate than you think!
VARIANTS
The original series barely had a budget for costumes, as evidenced by how high Kirk’s sleeves would get as the velour shrunk over two years of filming. When they got to the big screen, it was still tight, but they at least had some room for variation.When it came to the First Contact style, some variation was retained. For the Captain, at least. With the same colour scheme as the jacket, Captains had an optional waistcoat worn over the division shirt with a lower neckline and the quilted grey panel reaching to underneath the armpits. The style was designed for use in First Contact with a rounded cut for the arms, however later styles seen worn by Sisko and Sloan on Deep Space Nine had a sharper straight cut.
During Deep Space Nine’s opening arc in the sixth season, Admiral Ross ditched his red Admirals jacket for a new black and grey style to match the rest of the fleet. The new Admirals style again had the grey yolk on a black base, but the jacket was hip-length with a belt sporting Federation iconography to pull in at the waist. DS9 continued to flesh out the style as Nog’s base cadet uniform – a grey jumpsuit with red shoulder yolk and high collar – was replaced with the FC style jumpsuit in grey with colour coded padded shoulders.
Two dress uniforms were introduced alongside the FC style. The first went largely unnoticed and was only seen once. During the Dax-Worf wedding, the Starfleet officers and crew in attendance wore what seemed to be their old dress uniforms; a hip length formal jacket with a flap reaching across the chest. While they did look similar with their base department colour and black shoulder yolks, those yolks were padded and top-stitched like the mainstream uniforms. But fr all the detailing in those one off uniforms, they were unfortunately hidden underneath Klingon cloaks.
A completely new style of dress uniform was introduced in Star Trek Insurrection, and later adopted by Deep Space Nine. Bringing in a fresh perspective, Sanja Milkovic Hays took a completely different approach to Starfleet’s formal wear, retaining some of the familiar elements to create a space tuxedo effect. The jackets were made from a heavy military twill fabric with the same quilted shoulders as all other uniforms of the time, and an added quilted chest piece, designed to seem like an under-shirt layer. The trim of the jacket layer and yolk had a golden braid arrangement, complimented by black trousers with the same gold braid down the sides of the legs.
All of the jackets were white, the Captains and Admirals having a full white shirt layer and all lower ranked officers with a charcoal ‘shirt’. Department colour became a more subtle addition, with a braided collar detail mirroring the Next Generation costumes and the same design of department cuffs as the standard uniform; only with an added gold braid. Admirals uniforms, later added for Deep Space Nine, had a double-striped cuff to help frame Admirals pins.
Enlisted crew would have a similar, but less extravagant jacket in a two-toned grey. Other variations would occasionally turn up, such as a light desert uniform seen in DS9’s season 7; Engineering overalls introduced in Star Trek Nemesis and a bulky complex environment suit designed for First Contact.
Starfleets darker style of uniform went into service in 2373, between stardates 50245.2 and 50387.9; the latter of which was the day Captain Sisko discovered the hidden city of B’hala on Bajor. On screen the uniform made it’s debut in synch with the release of First Contact and would remain the primary uniform of Starfleet through the DS9 series.
Being isolated from the Federation, the crew of the USS Voyager continued to wear their standard uniforms from the previous style introduced with DS9’s Emissary, however when in contact with Earth, Reg Barclay and others within the Pathfinder project wore the appropriate FC uniform style.
Seen as the Dominion War uniform by many, the FC style lasted well beyond the wars conclusion in 2375 and was still in use when Shinzon became Praetor of Romulus in 2379 during the events of Star Trek: Nemesis.
With Nemesis closing the Next Generation era at the time, it was the final style for Trek before it went back to the 22nd and 23rd centuries on screen for Enterprise and Discovery. It was assumed the uniform would remain in service for some time, particularly with an alternate future seeing it worn by Captain Geordie La Forge in 2390 and would be used as a uniform option throughout 2380 alongside other variants including variations seen on the USS Cerritos and USS Defiant. In 2385 the uniform was phased out as the primary operational wear of the fleet and become completely phased out by the turn of the century.
Compared to previous iterations, particularly the look of the Original Series and The Next Generation, the First Contact uniform isn’t quite as iconic. In spite of that, it’s darker look offering a more real-world militaristic vibe, and being more practical in many ways, has made it a fan favourite and a massive outfit of choice for fans all over the world.
The First Contact/Dominion War edition of For The Uniform first featured in a previous edition of Comms. The edition in full, along with other editions before the emagizines hiatus, can be found in our Comms Archive for all SFCQ2 members.
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