Front-Zipping Jumpsuits
Perhaps the most obvious (and interesting) incongruity of the later-era TNG jumpsuits was that some zipped closed up the front, while others closed up the back.
As a general principle, all of the men, most nameless extras, and some minor supporting characters wore front-zipping jumpsuits.
Naturally, this encompassed most of crew members who wore the TNG jumpsuits – thus, the overwhelming majority of TNG jumpsuits appear to have been front-zipping.
The top of the invisible zipper was left hanging free, and a couple hook-and-eye closures above it completed the closure while fully concealing the zipper’s pull tab.
On the screen-used male extra’s TNG jumpsuit I examined, the front/zipper seam allowance was a full inch.
Other screen-used, front-zipping TNG jumpsuits appear to have had similarly large front/zipper allowances.
Back-Zipping Jumpsuits
On the other hand – again, as a general principle – female leads and prominent female guest characters tended to wear back-zipping TNG jumpsuits.
Most obviously, after trying out a few different uniform styles and variations early in season three, Dr. Crusher settled into wearing back-zipping jumpsuits for the rest of the show.
When Counselor Troi first wore the jumpsuit for a single episode in season four, she wore a back-zipping jumpsuit (which was particularly uncommon at that time).
Once she began regularly wearing the standard uniform partway through season six, her jumpsuits were always back-zipping.
Back-zipping TNG jumpsuits for other characters were rare, but they grew slightly more common as the show progressed.
Assuming it wasn’t a recycled Dr. Crusher uniform from earlier in the season, the first “non-hero” back-zipping jumpsuit popped up in the penultimate episode of season three.
With the exception of the alternate timeline uniforms in “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” this was the first time in the show that two back-zipping TNG jumpsuits were seen together.
My guess is that Blackman was attempting to determine if it would be better to try and modify all the older TNG jumpsuits from the earlier seasons, or make an entire line of new ones for the following season.
The next couple episodes, Commander Shelby also wore a back-zipping TNG jumpsuit.
With the exception of Counselor Troi’s in-uniform appearance for “Future Imperfect,” prominent female guest stars during season four (such as Lieutenant Commander Leijten and Lieutenant D’Sara) wore front-zipping jumpsuits.
Around season five, Blackman appears to have made a more concerted effort to dress prominent female guest characters in back-zipping TNG jumpsuits.
Most notably was the recurring character of Ensign Ro:
Also early that year, we saw Ensign Robin Leffler wearing a back-zipping TNG jumpsuit.
Up to that point, the ladies at the helm had all worn front-zipping TNG jumpsuits.
This included Ensign Gates, who made many appearances over the years, from season four all the way through the final episode.
Partway into season five, this recurring extra rotated in with Ro and Gates, wearing a back-zipping TNG jumpsuit.
Near the end of season five, this transporter operator wore a back-zipping gold jumpsuit.
The following production year would bring even more back-zipping TNG jumpsuits – most notably Nurse Ogawa, who had worn front-zipping jumpsuits for all her appearances until she was given new, back-zipping ones for season six.
In addition to Counselor Troi switching from her semi-casual uniforms to back-zipping TNG jumpsuits partway into season six, Lieutenant Aquiel and Lieutenant Commander Darren both wore back-zipping jumpsuits.
That same production year, in the Deep Space Nine pilot, Jadzia Dax was introduced wearing a back-zipping TNG jumpsuit.
A few other back-zipping jumpsuits showed up at the Enterprise helm that year – although I’m not sure if these were new costumes or reuses of existing ones.
Several more back-zipping TNG jumpsuits showed up during season seven – perhaps most notably for (the alien masquerading as) Captain La Forge, and Ensign Sito Jaxa.
There were a few others, assuming neither the first or third example below was a re-use of the transporter operator’s uniform from “The Next Phase.”
(It does look like it could be the same uniform on multiple actresses.)
Subsequent TNG jumpsuit appearances on Deep Space Nine (usually for prominent guest characters) were typically back-zipping.
Amidst this gradual infusion of back-zipping jumpsuits, The Powers That Be certainly weren’t shy about showing both styles on screen at the same time – even if it was only by necessity.
So, what to make of all this?
My interpretation of all this evidence is as follows:
In season three, Blackman established the back-zipping jumpsuit as the “look” for Dr. Crusher (at that time, the only female lead who wore the standard uniform). Toward the end of the season he began exploring the potential use of more back-zipping jumpsuits – perhaps weighing the task of creating a whole new line of uniforms against the task of updating an entire line of older ones.
A new line of back-zipping TNG jumpsuits seems to have been deemed unfeasible, so he mostly stepped away from them in season four, choosing instead to update the existing ones from earlier seasons.
But then for season five, he revisited the idea of prominent female characters wearing back-zipping jumpsuits – most notably for Ensign Ro, as well as Ensign Leffler, and a few others tossed into the mix for good measure.
He leaned into this concept more for season six, with Counselor Troi, Nurse Ogawa, Lieutenant Aquiel, Lieutenant Commander Darren, Jadzia Dax, and a few more extras all having worn back-zipping jumpsuits.
From season seven onward he seems to have mostly adhered to this paradigm, even if it was more of a “rule of thumb” than actual “standard.”
For example, consider the four guest stars who carried most of the seventh season episode, “Lower Decks.”
Each of them had a prominent role and appreciable amount of screen time.
Nurse Ogawa and Ensign Sito wore back-zipping TNG jumpsuits, while Ensigns Taurik and Lavelle both wore front-zipping uniforms.
The obvious conclusion would be that the men’s TNG jumpsuits were always front-zipping, and as best I can tell, that does appear to have been the case.
However, in the course of my research, I did come across this auction listing for a back-zipping men’s TNG jumpsuit; note the lack of bust darts.
I wasn’t able to determine if or when it was ever used, and as of the writing of this analysis, it’s the only one of its kind I’ve seen. Perhaps it was a prototype?
Its most likely use would’ve probably on a helmsman, but every jumpsuit-wearing male I saw at the station wore a front-zipping jumpsuit.
In any event, just like with the front-zipping jumpsuits, the top of the back zipper was left hanging free, with a trio of hook-and-eye closures on the underside of the collar completing the closure while fully concealing the zipper’s pull tab.
On the screen-used Ensign Sito TNG jumpsuit I studied, the back zipper allowances varied a bit (likely as a result to the costume having been specifically fitted to the actress), but they were quite large – usually in the 1” to 1 ¼” range.
Other screen-used, back-zipping TNG jumpsuits appear to have had similarly large back/zipper allowances.
