Screen-used Men’s TNG Skant – Reference Photos

After posting about my examination of a screen-used women’s TNG skant, a fellow known as “Stasiuwong” was kind enough to share some photos of his screen-used men’s TNG skant, so I thought it would be interesting to take a quick look at how it compares to the women’s version.

For the sake of brevity, I’ll avoid rehashing all the aspects that appear to be the same as on the women’s skant I examined, and instead only mention the details I noticed that are different.

Also, keep in mind that two (more or less random) uniforms – while amazing to study – aren’t necessarily indicative of universal construction methods, nor are they a large enough sample base to draw any universal conclusions about gender-specific distinctions in construction.

In other words, just because one women’s skant was done a certain way and one men’s skant was done another way, doesn’t mean that all women’s and all men’s skants were similarly constructed.

(For example, I’ve since had the privilege of studying five screen-used TNG jumpsuits, and in several respects they were patterned and/or constructed five different ways.)

That said, we’ll start with the outer dimensions, then move on to the interior construction, generally making our way from top to bottom.

I was surprised to see that this men’s skant was only a mere inch longer than the women’s version.

Men's TNG skant - Star Trek Costume Guide
Screen-used men’s TNG skant (photo by “Stasiuwong”)

I find this curious, since in the show, the women’s version appeared to be quite short – approximately knuckle-length – whereas the men’s version extended down to the mid-thigh or so.

Women's TNG skant length - Star Trek Costume Guide
Women's TNG skant length
Men's TNG skant length - Star Trek Costume Guide
Men's TNG skant length

This might seem to imply that only shorter men were cast to wear this particular uniform.

But while there were a couple shorter men seen in the skants (the fellow in 1×11 “Haven,” for example), there were also definitely a couple taller fellows.

Men's TNG skant length - Star Trek Costume Guide
TNG, 1x1 "Encounter at Farpoint"

Also, whereas the women’s sleeves were 2” long (measured from the lower, outer corner of the yoke to the sleeve hem), the men’s sleeves were a bit longer – approximately 4”.

Men's TNG skant - Star Trek Costume Guide
Screen-used men’s TNG skant (photo by “Stasiuwong”)

This appears to be consistent with what we saw in the show.

TNG skant sleeve length - Star Trek Costume Guide
TNG, 1x1 "Encounter at Farpoint"

The production tag on the back yoke is labeled with “39,” which is presumably to indicate the wearer’s size.

However, also note the tag underneath the arm labeled “40.”

Men's TNG skant - Star Trek Costume Guide
Screen-used men’s TNG skant (photo by “Stasiuwong”)

Like their jumpsuit counterparts, the TNG skants do appear to have been rather snug.

After having made several of these, it seems to me that the ideal wearing ease for a TNG skant seems to be a mere inch or so, and my guess is that the upper tag indicates a “size 39” and the “40” indicates the garment’s finished chest measurement (which would include 1” of wearing ease).

Another minor difference is that both the front and back vents on the men’s skant were a bit shorter than those on its female counterpart.

Men's TNG skant - Star Trek Costume Guide
Front vent (photo by “Stasiuwong”)
Men's TNG skant - Star Trek Costume Guide
Back vent (photo by “Stasiuwong”)

In addition to the dimensional differences, there were also some minor differences in the skant’s interior construction.

Unlike on the women’s skant I examined, the lower edge of the upper/horizontal zipper did not appear to be stitched down onto the lower seam allowance, where it extended past the center front.

Both sides were simply left hanging free.

Men's TNG skant - Star Trek Costume Guide
Screen-used men’s TNG skant (photo by “Stasiuwong”)

Also, on the women’s version, the horizontal zipper only extended past the armscye seam by about 3 ¼”, but on this particular men’s skant, it appeared to be much longer.

Men's TNG skant - Star Trek Costume Guide
Screen-used men’s TNG skant (photo by “Stasiuwong”)

Interestingly, on this skant, both the front and back “waist anchors” appeared to be hand-tacked to the side front and side back seam allowances, in addition to their outer edges being secured to the side seam allowances.

Men's TNG skant - Star Trek Costume Guide
Screen-used men’s TNG skant (photo by “Stasiuwong”)
Men's TNG skant - Star Trek Costume Guide
Screen-used men’s TNG skant (photo by “Stasiuwong”)

The leg straps appear to have been a bit taller on the men’s version – 4 ½”, as opposed to 4” on the women’s version.

Also observe that, rather than securing via two black snaps, the leg straps on this particular skant did so via black hook-and-loop tape (“Velcro”), which was simply topstitched into place.

Men's TNG skant - Star Trek Costume Guide
Screen-used men’s TNG skant (photo by “Stasiuwong”)
Men's TNG skant - Star Trek Costume Guide
Screen-used men’s TNG skant (photo by “Stasiuwong”)

And finally, you may recall that on the women’s TNG skant I examined, the shoulder pads were actually hand-sewn to the shoulder seam allowances.

But on this skant, the shoulder pads appear to have been removable and attached/detached via small black snaps – more like we saw on most of the modern-era Star Trek costumes.

Men's TNG skant - Star Trek Costume Guide
Screen-used men’s TNG skant (photo by “Stasiuwong”)

There were a few more subtle differences between the two skants, but I won’t get into them. Those are the most notable ones.

Special thanks again to “Stasiuwong” for all the helpful photos of his skant, and for allowing me to share them here on the blog.

Here’s the full gallery of original reference photos:

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