As detailed as our analysis of the TNG jumpsuits has been thus far, we’ve been primarily focusing on the “proper” uniforms and their evolution over the course of the show and beyond.
There were several notable uniform variations over the years, as well as a handful of interesting, more obscure uniform variants and outliers.
(Solely for the purposes of this costume analysis, I define a uniform “variation” as generally being worn by most or all of the cast for a specific episode/movie/production year/etc. – more “official” and “across the board,” as it were – and a uniform “variant” as usually only worn by a single individual or similar niche use.)
"Yesterday's Enterprise"
Interestingly, there were three major TNG jumpsuit variations over the course of the show, and all three were seen in alternate timelines and/or depictions of reality.
The first was in the fan-favorite episode, “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” during which the cast wore slightly modified uniforms for the darker timeline in which most of the episode took place.
These uniforms had three key differences from their “prime timeline” counterparts.
First, the collars were slightly taller and closed at the front (as opposed to the mandarin-style).
The collar on Tasha’s uniform was 2” tall all the way around, including the piping at the top.
Also note the tapered center front collar seam.
Second, these jumpsuits had black cuffs accenting the lower sleeves.
I believe these sleeve cuffs to have been a creative extension of those commonly seen on traditional Western military, Victorian, and theatrical uniforms and costumes – as befitting the more militaristic timeline during which most of the episode took place.
FYI, all examples are from The Cutter’s Practical Guide to the Cutting and Making of All Kinds of British Military Uniforms by W.D. Vincent, which you can view online for free via the provided link.
The inner portion of these cuffs were 2” tall, and the outer cuffs were 4” tall at the apex.
(Also note the slightly mismatched piping and jumpsuit fabric – doubtless the result of the colors continually changing throughout the series.)
These cuffs were simply hand-sewn onto the otherwise finished TNG jumpsuit sleeves – likely because this was the easiest way to both attach and remove them, allowing the wardrobe team to conveniently modify existing uniforms for the episode then continue using them for “regular” episodes afterward.
Other than the characters being armed at all times, the third (and perhaps most striking change) was that these alternate timeline uniforms were worn with silver belts or harnesses.
As best I could determine, the senior officers wore belts:
These belts were 2” wide, including the black accents on the outer edges.
They overlapped in the front and closed underneath the pair of Starfleet “deltas” via hook-and-loop tape (“Velcro”) and snaps.
As you may recall, at this point in the show, the extras continued to wear the older, existing uniforms from the first two seasons.
As such, their jumpsuits were unaltered for the episode, but they did wear full harnesses with their uniforms – perhaps a variation of the “Sam Browne belt.” (Special thanks for Michael Cowart for introducing me to the term.)
"Future Imperfect"
The next uniform variation was seen the following year in the episode “Future Imperfect,” most of which allegedly takes place sixteen years later.
These TNG jumpsuits themselves were unaltered, but they were worn without rank pips on the collar, and with the wearer’s rank being indicated by a different-style communicator.
As a side note, I think there’s an interesting discussion to be had about the canonical relevance of this particular uniform variation; obviously it happened in the show and is therefore “canon,” but it was also an entirely fictional future that took place in Commander Riker’s mind, so … did this uniform variation ever actually exist in-universe?
Also, considering what we saw over the subsequent spinoffs and movies, perhaps the most far-fetched idea about the hallucination was that the Starfleet uniforms would remain almost identical for sixteen years!
"Parallels"
The third major TNG jumpsuit variation we saw was in the seventh season episode, “Parallels,” in another alternate timeline quantum reality.
These were identical to those previously seen in “Future Imperfect,” except they were worn with the standard rank pips on the collar as well.
Kosinski
There were several other interesting TNG jumpsuit variants seen throughout the series.
The first was worn by Kosinski in the early season one episode, “Where No One Has Gone Before.”
His TNG jumpsuit was worn with a unique rank insignia which was, as best I could tell, exclusive to his character.
His actual rank (or lack thereof) and official position were never mentioned in the episode (only that he was a Starfleet propulsion expert), so what this rank insignia actually means is left to our imagination and/or interpretation.
Curiously, even though he was clearly in (or at least working for) Starfleet, he didn’t wear a communicator.
As for why he didn’t, we can only guess.
I don’t believe it was a wardrobe and/or production error, since he consistently wore no communicator throughout the episode – unless somebody missed it on the first day of filming, then someone else noticed before the next day’s filming and decided to just roll with it for the rest of the shoot for the sake of consistency?
Perhaps William Ware Theiss was attempting to imply that while Kosinski wore the uniform, he wasn’t “officially” in Starfleet, hadn’t attended Starfleet Academy, and/or was a sort of “contractor” for Starfleet – more than a civilian, less than a member of the actual organization?
Data back-zipping variant
One of the notable variants – which I think we were probably never supposed to actually notice – was a back-zipping early jumpsuit frequently worn by Data toward the end of season one.
The first clear evidence of its use was during part of the episode, “Symbiosis.”
This variant only zipped up the back (as opposed to both the back and the front); the front was sewn closed where the invisible zipper and closures would normally go.
Observe how inordinately “clean” the upper front area was when sewn closed, rather than zipped.
Here’s a side-by-side comparison, in which the difference is more clearly observable:
With that in mind, it appears he may have worn this back-zipping variant for either or both of the preceding two episodes; it’s difficult to say for certain.
He definitely wore this back-zipping variant for parts of the following two episodes, though.
He did still wear the standard front-zipping jumpsuit for parts of all the aforementioned episodes, though.
It’s difficult to say for sure, but it looks like he may have worn the back-zipping variant for part of the last episode that season.
He definitely wore the standard front-zipping version for at least most of the episode, though.
Personally, I believe this peculiar back-zipping variant to have been an abandoned experiment by William Ware Theiss – although to what end, I obviously can’t say.
The natural assumption might be that it had something to do with Brent Spiner’s makeup, but with the open neckline and front closure being more convenient, the makeup situation seems unrelated. (After all, Michael Dorn wore even more extensive makeup, but as best I could tell, Worf never wore a back-zipping jumpsuit.)
Perhaps it was another experiment to try and achieve a more comfortable fit for the actors; as you may recall, it was around this same time that Captain Picard’s jumpsuits grew noticeably looser and baggier.
Regardless, Data consistently switched back to the standard front-zipping jumpsuit at the beginning of season two; it seems Durinda Rice Wood chose to discard the back-zipping variant entirely.
Alien variants
There were a couple neat “alien variants” of the TNG jumpsuits.
The first was for Ensign Mendon, about a third of the way into season two; his jumpsuit had a black collar extending upward from the neckline.
It’s difficult to say for certain whether or not the collar was actually attached to the jumpsuit, but I believe it was probably a turtleneck-style undershirt or dickey.
In the penultimate episode of season four, this alien bassoonist wore a TNG jumpsuit with what appeared to be a black hood.
We never got a close enough look at this uniform to see whether the hood was attached or extended upward from an undergarment, but I think both this and Mendon’s uniforms were neat examples of how Starfleet allowed its nonhuman crew members some latitude with their uniforms.
(Previous examples include the three-armed Lieutenant Arex from The Animated Series, Spock’s collar in The Motion Picture, and a subsequent example would be Nog’s head-covering in Deep Space Nine.)
Early two-piece variants
There were also a few interesting two-piece variants of the TNG jumpsuits (and I’m not referring to the later-style, wool two-piece uniforms from season three onward).
Perhaps the most surprising of these was what seems to have been yet another brief experiment by William Ware Theiss during season one; observe this extra clearly wearing a two-piece uniform that mimics the paneling of the standard jumpsuits.
Special thanks to Jörg Hillebrand for bringing this obscure variant to my attention!
Another of these briefly popped up later in the season, a gold version on a different extra.
Perhaps Theiss was giving it another try?
For what it’s worth, a uniform previously believed to have been Lieutenant “Thomas” Riker’s from the sixth season episode “Second Chances” was sold at auction recently, but I believe to have actually been this early experiment.
It looks like the frozen lady Geordi caught near the beginning of “The Naked Now” was also wearing a two-piece faux-jumpsuit, but I’m not sure how much of this was the wardrobe department’s doing and how much was the set team’s. (Note the exaggerated yoke trim width and comically large communicator.)
The uniform may have been made this way solely so it would be easier to dress the mannequin.
Ensign Ro
The most brazen two-piece variant was probably Ensign Ro’s, during her introductory episode.
She beamed down to the planet in the standard jumpsuit, then magically removed the top of it (presumably how one would remove a regular jacket) off-camera and gave it to a child refugee.
As a side note, this brief moment established quite a legacy of “magic separating jumpsuits” that would last throughout all three spinoff series!
Of course, this furthered the mystique of these costumes and their construction, providing verisimilitude to the universe itself; the wardrobe of the future might be as “magical” to us as a zipper or Velcro would be to someone from medieval times.
In any event, the upper half of Ensign Ro’s “magic separating jumpsuit” (which for our purposes, I think we can safely refer to as the “jacket,” even if that wasn’t necessarily the original intent) was made from the same jumbo spandex as the standard jumpsuits … but more interestingly, it appears to have been fully lined.
The lining wouldn’t have been structurally necessary since jumbo spandex doesn’t fray or unravel like woven fabrics tend to, but it does make for a nicer presentation – probably a major consideration since its interior would’ve been partially visible on-camera after Ensign Ro removes it and wraps it around the refugee.
Observe how, like the aforementioned early two-piece variants from season one, the upper half of the jumpsuit (the “jacket’) overlapped the black trousers by several inches to mimic the paneling of the standard jumpsuit.
"Thomas" Riker
A similar variant was seen near the end of the following season on Lieutenant “Thomas” Riker.
In this case, the intent was obviously to show this duplicate Riker wearing the tattered remains of his uniform from seven years prior … even if it only was the upper half.
However, unlike Ensign Ro’s two-piece variant, Lieutenant Riker’s was curiously made from wool gabardine, rather than jumbo spandex!
My theory is that wool was used because it would tear, fray, and generally produce a more ragged, “tattered” appearance than jumbo spandex.
Nurse Ogawa "maternity" variant
In the series finale, Nurse Ogawa wore a two-piece “maternity variant” with similar upper body paneling to the corresponding jumpsuits.
Like the standard jumpsuits, this “maternity variant” appears to have been made from jumbo spandex, and was described in the auction listing as having “sleeveless, jumpsuit-style trousers” (a la overalls).
