Clothing in Spaaaaaaace!

[Fred Brackin]

I remembered an example of symbolic use of clothing from the Enterprise TV series.

The early StarFleet uniforms of the Enterprise crew were very like the ones from the 1950s movie Forbidden Planet.

This metaphoricaly signalled the general retro themes of the show and specifically symbolized that we were in the 50s comapred to TOS 1960s galaxy. Clever.

Then T'Pol's Vulcan Space Service uniform was made from something that loked like brown tweed. I suppose there may have been some idea that an ancient and complex culture would insist on natural and textured fabrics. Or maybe it was only to make Vulcans look stuffy.

Whatever the purpose it didn't convey much of anything.

Then in the third season T'Pol resigned from the Vulcan service rather than leave Enterprise. She started wearing what I guess were supposed to be civilian outfits that were tight-fitting and made in various Day-Glo colors.

That worked because it recalled the 60s and T'Pol being from a 60s equivalent compared to the human's 50s equivalent signaled that she was from an culture more advanced than theirs. Clever again.

So formal robes and togas may be an attempt to indicate that certain group is ancient (and therefore hopefully wise) but they may also make the wearers look hidebound and backward-looking. This sort of fashion statement is used in this way in many SF flims and TV shows.

So people who don't want to look hidebound and backward-looking might avoid such things.

What would a person or group that wanted to look innovative and future-oriented wear? Maybe collor-changing jumpsuits that automatically deployed gloves and hoods to supplement their internal climate control systems in cold weather. Or even inflated bubble helmets for space.

See Rainbow and Morphwear from UT p.189. Then combine with a Space Biosuit and for 14% more than the cost of your spacesuit it's the only suit of clothes you'll ever need.