The original Star Trek television series opened their first pilot with similar uniforms between the men and women. The ladies uniform generally consisted of a velour style of shirt, while the rest of the uniform came with black boots and black tights, along with a short black skirt. Although it was rare, sometimes you would see one of the ladies wearing black pants instead of the skirt, a trend that would become more standard on “The Next Generation.” The men’s Star Trek uniforms were definitely similar to the ladies, as you would everything the same except black pants instead of a skirt and tights. In the very early pilot, Star Trek symbol was actually affixed to the left sleeve instead of on the chest. Even from the beginning, shirt colors were used to identify each crew member’s duties.

In the early pilot episodes, three primary Star Trek shirt colors were worn to indicate the duties performed. Command personnel wore a gold shirt, the operations personnel wore a beige colored shirt, and medical, science, and security personnel wore a blue shirt. However, after the show went into production, the colors were changed somewhat. Command, and also the helm personnel wore gold/green shirts, while operations, engineering, and security personnel wore red shirts. The science and medical continued to wear the standard blue shirt with a black collar and of course, an undershirt.

The Star Trek insignia originally consisted of the now very well known arrowhead logo, but early versions would have also given clues as to the branch of service each person was associated with. Stars meant command, while a circle superimposed with an oval was for science and medical experts. Engineering was represented with an angular spiral. In theory, officers on other bases or ships would have similar uniforms, but with different patches or insignias to represent where they were stationed.

As the series gained popularity and changed, many new uniform designs, colors, and materials were tested, and the original Star Trek movies continued to mess with these designs. One film director demanded a complete re-design because he did not want “all gray uniforms on an all gray ship.” Starting with “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” Star Trek uniforms again became much more practical and colorful. Later some even wore a jumpsuit as the uniform preference, with colors once again representing the type of service.

More recent episodes of shows like “Enterprise,” have changed the Star Trek uniforms again, making them blue jumpsuits that include dark colored undershirts. This uniform had colored shoulder piping that tells branch of service, as opposed to the old style of having completely different colored uniforms. Flight control or command is denoted with gold piping, security and engineering are marked by red piping, and finally the science, medical, and communications personnel would wear blue shoulder piping. There was one exception to this uniform dress code in “Enterprise,” and that was for the character T’Pol. Any fan can tell you that she definitely looked better in a spandex jumpsuit, and like Counselor Troy on “The Next Generation,” or Seven of Nine in “Voyager,” helped spice things up a little.

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