Jumpsuit Fabric
Like all of William Ware Theiss’ TNG-era Starfleet uniform designs, the TNG jumpsuits were primarily made of jumbo spandex.
And thanks to the amazing quality of The Next Generation in remastered HD, the actual weave of the jumbo spandex was occasionally visible:
Among the many special features on The Next Generation Blu-Rays is some footage of original costume and camera tests, including this one (with multiple communicator finishes), during which the weave of the jumbo spandex was clearly visible:
One can also observe the jumbo spandex weave in close-up auction photos of screen-used uniforms:
And here are a couple close-up detail photos of two screen-used TNG jumpsuits I studied, in which the weave is again visible:
As you may have noticed, the jumbo spandex was used with the “dull” side (and its more prominent weave) as the outside (“right side”) of the jumpsuit, and the smoother shiny side as the interior.
For contrast, here are the three screen-used early TNG jumpsuits I studied, pictured inside-out:
That said, even the “dull” side of the jumbo spandex did have a bit of sparkle to it – particularly the gold division color, and under bright lighting.
The teal fabric sometimes appeared to have a bit more of a sheen than the other two division colors:
Although promotional images (and photos in general) are often questionable representations of costume fabrics, Dr. Crusher’s uniform appeared so shiny in this season 1 publicity photo that I wonder if any early TNG jumpsuit prototypes were actually made shiny-side-out.
It’s probably just an effect of the lighting and photo editing, but I can’t say for sure …
Jumpsuit Fit
As initially conceived by William Ware Theiss, the TNG jumpsuits were basically skin-tight around the wearer’s shoulders and torso.
Paradoxically, these uniforms were cut with the spandex stretching vertically, rather than horizontally around the wearer’s body. (See previous examples of fabric weave.)
Even so, observe how tightly these jumpsuits stretched across the wearer’s back:
The jumpsuits didn’t “hug” the back quite as well as if they’d had a fitted center back seam, but I believe Theiss may have wanted to keep the uniform design as clean as possible.
The jumpsuits didn’t “hug” the back quite as well as if they’d had a fitted center back seam, but I believe Theiss may have wanted to keep the uniform design as clean as possible.
Goodness knows if the ever-trim Patrick Stewart had trouble pulling off these skin-tight spandex uniforms, most of the other male characters didn’t have much of a chance; these uniforms could make someone of relatively average build look like a Pakled.
Overall these uniforms didn’t do their wearers, their postures, or the presentations of their characters any favors. The cast have often bemoaned how utterly unforgiving (and uncomfortable) these early uniforms were.
Poor Riker looked like he was about to have an alien “chestburster” explode out of him at any second, while the crew looked on in horror!
The men’s jumpsuits also had an unfortunate tendency to bunch under the chest while the wearer was sitting.
Fun fact: many fans are familiar with the “Picard Maneuver” in relation to the later two-piece uniforms, but it actually began with these early TNG jumpsuits, to prevent and contend with incidents like these. 🙂
Through this uniform design, Theiss was also thoughtful enough to show us how anatomically-detailed Data’s body actually was:
Non sequitur: personally, I think these uniforms were far more flattering on the female characters.
(Although to be fair, it does seem that over the years, weight was much less of a factor for the casting department when casting male actors than female ones. And the male two-piece uniforms from season three onward were far more “forgiving” than the ladies’ uniforms ever were.)
Roddenberry is rumored to have favored the “sprayed-on clothing” look, so for better or worse, these uniforms often looked vaguely like a fully nude human wearing body paint.
That said, Captain Picard’s uniforms did loosen a bit toward the end of the season.
Observe the slight “bagginess” around the upper chest, beneath the yoke.
By the final episode of the season, Captain Picard’s uniform was noticeably looser than it had been.
Many of the cast are said to have complained about these notoriously uncomfortable uniforms, but it’s possible Patrick Stewart’s protests were the loudest – either because as the star of the show his voice carried the most weight, his voice was also backed by that of his chiropractor, or both.
While it’s possible his uniforms were simply stretching out over time, I don’t believe it would have to this degree – not with the spandex oriented so the stretch was vertical, rather than horizontal – and I didn’t observe this effect on other members of the cast.
It’s my belief that toward the end of the season Theiss began experimenting with a slightly looser fit, with Stewart as the test subject since his objections were the most insistent and/or carried the most weight.
Ordinarily Theiss (and his successors) often tended to experiment like this on extras/background performers or in other “low-risk” scenarios, but in this case he seems to have gone straight to the show lead.
(It was around this same time that Theiss also began experimenting with Data’s uniform, but more on that later.)
Thank you for sharing all this. Do you have any thoughts re: foundation garments worn under the TNG uniforms? It seems like visible underwear lines were against Starfleet regs, so I think there must have been something but...what? I can't help imagining something like a full-body compression sock!
The topic is on my mind as I'm tiptoeing around the idea of making a SNW uniform which is pretty snug, albeit nothing like the early TNG costumes and I always start my cosplay projects by sorting out the foundation garments first! 😉
There's a season 7 special feature in which Marina Sirtis gives a tour of the costume department, and she holds up some underwear. The cast appears to have worn tight T-shirts or exercise shirts underneath their jumpsuits, which could occasionally be seen in behind-the-scenes footage. Later into the show most (perhaps all) of the male cast did wear at least some minor muscle padding. The ladies' uniforms were probably "strategically" padded too. I plan to go into more detail (with corresponding examples) in part 4, as well as my upcoming TNG jacket analysis. 🙂
- Alex