Costume Design by:
- Deborah Everton ( notable efforts: The Abyss (1989), Highlander II: The Quickening (1991), The Osiris Chronicles (1998), Dick (1999), Spy Kids (2001) )
- Robert Blackman ( notable efforts: The Running Man (1987), Star Trek: The Next Generation (Seasons 3 to 7), Deep Space Nine (1993 - 1999), Voyager (1995 - 2001), Enterprise (2001 - 2005), Pushing Daisies (2007 - 2009), Mockingbird Lane (2012) )
Note: Blackman was the designer for the new Starfleet uniforms, whilst Everton was assigned to the rest of the characters. However, Everton enlisted costume illustrator Gina DeDomenico to help realize her ideas for the costumes, and these designs do all feel indebted to Blackman's various costume designs for the then-ongoing television series Deep Space Nine and Voyager.
This more particularly 'gritty' film entry of the
Star Trek saga did a way with the more colourful costume design sense of the main shows and previous films, with a new Starfleet uniform being designed by Bob Blackman to help set the tone - this new uniforms is the same general design as the rather simplistic one he had designed for
Deep Space 9 and
Voyager, but this time has ribbed grey panelling over the shoulders, with the gold/red/green ranking style being on the undershirt instead. This feels more militaristic than previous Starfleet uniform designs, setting the tone for this more gung-ho movie as well as the more military scifi tone of
Deep Space 9, which reused these uniforms plenty.
This new Starfleet uniform design comes with a new style of officer uniform (again, designed by Blackman) that would be seen in the follow-up films
Star Trek: Insurrection and
Star Trek: Nemesis, as well as Deep Space 9 - this design is a buttonless officer's jacket with gold lining down the middle, and the same grey ribbed panelling on the shoulders, with gold-lined bands on the cuffs.
Lastly for the redesigned Starfleet uniforms (that would also see plenty of reuse in
Deep Space Nine) is this vest with the same ribbed grey padding over the shoulders, worn by Picard in this film and Sisko in
DS9 - once again, I feel this was probably Blackman's design work.
The actual plot of
First Contact involves time travelling to the 21st century after it had been decimated by nuclear war, so most of the humans are just in tatty contemporary garb though the Enterprise's crew adopt the local fashion to fit in. Designed by DeDomenico and Everton, the latter bringing her rather more muted and utilitarian design sense, these are still definitely indebted to Bob Blackman's design sense, with more unusual fabric textures, short sharp cuts, high waists and asymmetrical patterns to be seen here. The most striking outfit among the 'contemporary' disguises that looks a bit futuristic is worn by LaForge, whose wears trousers with a large brown waist strip and a red vest with circular patterns around one sleeve.
The rest of the Enterprises crew wear a variety of jackets and vests that have little futuristic touches, such as Reginald Barclay's (Dwight Schultz) having straps over his vest, Troi having a patterned vest under a rather short waistcoat, and Data and Riker's jackets having epaulette-like strips on the shoulders. These costume display photos in particular came from the
Star Trek: Auctions, Props and Wardrobe facebook page, which I hope they do not mind being reposted here. This also counts for the outfit worn by the less than hopeful inventor Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell), who wears a vest over his overalls, the vest covered in a patterned fabric that feels like Native American textile designs. Notice that his hat has metal studs around the sides as well.
Another notable 21st century outfit (though this isn't quite AS dreary enough as actual modern fashion, so who knows) is the brown shirt and green-lined vest worn by Lily Sloane (Alfre Woodard). I could mention
the 1930s dress she wears in the holodeck sequence, but I won't partly as it's never seen in full, partly because I think it's kind of ugly, sorry.
Lastly for the futuristic outfits are the robes worn by the Vulcans that arrive making the 'first contact' of the film's title - these are also inspired by Blackman's design sense, with the curved segment of ridged material going over one side.
