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Warp One Uniforms' Design 270 (3)

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The Star Fleet Class-A Operations Duty Uniform first introduced in the year 2373 of the Prime Reality is commonly known to fans as the “Dominion War” uniform (because this was the uniform worn for the entirety of the fictional conflict), the “First Contact” uniform (because it was first seen in that film), or the “late Deep Space Nine” uniform (because it was introduced during the latter half of the DS9 series and became the uniform the series was most strongly identified with). 

At the time, the TNG Season 3 uniforms were being or had been pretty much phased out entirely.  They were only seen occasionally, and only for officers that were serving at Star Fleet Headquarters or, perhaps, aboard certain ships or stations.  By this point, the Class-B Utility Jumpsuit (the original DS9 uniform and eventually the VOY uniform) had become pretty widespread, and had already been permanently identified with the “Star Trek: Voyager” series.  When “First Contact” was being made in the late 1990s, the “Trek” staff, including costume designer Robert Blackman, felt it was time for yet another change that would befit the darker tone of the post-“Generations” TNG films starting with “First Contact.”

These uniforms were thicker, bulkier, more heavily built, more toned down and more militant compared to the brightly colored Class-B jumpsuit.  The brightly colored shoulder yoke was made larger, and transformed into a quilted yoke of grey material.  All three division colors were made darker, and instead of being on the shoulders, they were now on the undershirt – which had a more prominent central zipper closure – and on the cuff bands.  The uniform was still worn with regulation pants and ankle-length boots and seemed to come in variants including a full-length jumpsuit and two-piece versions.  Captains Picard and Sisko were also known to wear a waistcoat patterned after the duty uniform; Sisko often wore his directly underneath the jacket itself.  (This waistcoat is one of the uniforms that I don’t have, although I know who makes it.) 

There have been many shops that have offered some version of this uniform for sale.  The first one I ever had was purchased the summer after 7th grade when my family and I went to Las Vegas and I got to visit “Star Trek: The Experience,” formerly at the Las Vegas Hilton, for the first time.  At the time, I barely managed to wrangle the concession out of my mother, who has never been fond of spending any money on me and my geeky habits.  It wasn’t a full jumpsuit, just a top, made by the Rubies Costume Company.  As we all know, “friends don’t let friends buy Rubies costumes except under extenuating circumstances,” but I didn’t realize that then and naively believed that Rubies was the only “Trek” costume maker around. 

I was never very happy with that uniform.  First, it was poorly made and I could tell.  The pattern was awkward, the shoulder pads didn’t help give it a fitted appearance, I couldn’t lift my arms without making the uniform look awkward, the Comm Badge was very poor quality and quickly broke (my mom sewed the Comm Badge-shaped display stand from my GEN Lt. Cmdr. Data figure onto the shirt as a stop-gap replacement because I didn’t know where to get Comm Badge pins at the time), and worse, the undershirt wasn’t even a real undershirt but a silly dickie, an extremely loose false collar that sagged anytime pips were pinned onto it.   

Not only that, it was a teal science/medical shirt – and anyone who really knows me would know that I have a quirk of nearly always casting myself as a Command Division Captain, Fleet Captain or Commodore.  I eventually outgrew it and abandoned it, and for a while, because I was convinced that was as good as it got, I was unmotivated to invest in another Star Fleet uniform despite being such an avid fan of the series.  It wasn’t until 2008, when I discovered Warp One, Ltd. In England, that I was convinced to try another version of the Dominion War uniform – and this time, I was sinking in much more money for a higher-quality outfit. 

Warp One, Ltd. has been out of business for six years.  A long time ago, it was one of the few places that offered fairly affordable versions of rare uniforms like the TWOK Monster Maroon or the “Generations” Captain’s Waistcoat, long before the rise of the online Asian cosplay tailor shops like Cosplay Sky or Hello Cosplay.  It was based in England, and for a while, it held a Paramount license for “Star Trek” costumes in the United Kingdom.  It offered several versions of the Dominion War uniform including the one that I’ve got, which is its Design #270.  This is a heavily simplified version of the Dominion War uniform that does not have a true undershirt either.  But unlike the Rubies version, instead of giving you a “dickie,” or false collar, it simply has a collar completely integrated into the uniform.  This means that when I unzip the uniform, the collar splits apart and it looks like I’ve got a burgundy-framed collar around the rest of the uniform.  It isn’t show-accurate, but it actually looks rather dashing. 

The uniform itself is far superior to anything Rubies has ever made.  It’s got a strong elastic band on the bottom.  And although the zipper doesn’t extend down to the elastic band, forcing me to wear the uniform like a pullover, it was something I quickly got used to.  The uniform was made thick and strong, capable of resisting a lot of wear and tear – this is the kind of thing you wear to convention after convention, confident that it could hold up.  Although the sleeves were a bit short (Warp One only made stock sizes and didn’t make custom-tailored uniforms, from what I recalled), and although the design of the uniform didn’t allow the “V-nick” in the gray shoulder yoke that is so iconic of the VOY and FC uniform designs, I was quite happy with it. 

I should note that the fellow who ran Warp One was actually very kind.  When he learned about my situation with regard to Star Fleet uniforms at the time and how apprehensive I was, he offered to let me buy the more show-accurate two-piece version (with a full undershirt) at the same price as the Design 270 (the simplified one-piece variant), as the two-piece version usually cost a good deal more.  However, I had already begun to develop a desire to bend the rules and be different – a desire that eventually erupted into a full-scale “variant mania” that characterizes my “Star Trek” cosplay today – and I liked the thought of having something completely unique to that store, a design that only Warp One made.  I was also in favor of taking the Design 270 because I figured that not having an undershirt would also mean one less item of clothing to wash, get lost, or otherwise worry about – so that was what I bought. 

Therefore, this was my first “serious” Star Fleet uniform, even though I never got the appropriate V-vented pants for it.  (My only pair of appropriate pants is in my dorm at Georgia Regents University Health Sciences Campus right now, unfortunately.)  I loved the thing, wore it around in the dorm a lot, and ultimately was convinced to keep my faith in better quality “Star Trek” uniforms because of it.  However, I chose not to take it with me when I left California to go to graduate school, and therefore didn’t have it on hand when I started attending conventions and later cosplaying in earnest.  It sat out, back in my bedroom closet at my parents’ house in CA, while I went on to bigger and better things… in bigger and better uniforms, eventually reaching the zenith of my achievements as a Trekkie by building a “locker” of every single uniform that a Classic Movie Era Captain would have had access to and even acquiring a TWOK Phaser Rifle (original design) and a recreation of the rejected “Assassin Phaser Rifle” that never made it into “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” thanks to my partnership with Casey J. Sullivan & the propmaking team at Triple-Fiction Productions. 

So far, I have continued to come home for Christmas.  And almost every time I come back, I “honor” my old uniform – the one that really started it all – by taking it out, dusting it off, and trying it out to see if it still fits and still looks good on me.  I still have not decided whether or not I am going to bring it back to grad school with me.  This is currently my very last Winter Break, and I don’t know where I’m going to work after I graduate from GRU HS (formerly Medical College of Georgia) with my Master of Health Science in Medical Laboratory Science, so if I don’t bring it back with me now, it may be a while before I see it again.  I do feel a little sad that it has been neglected all these years and missed all the action I put my TWOK Era uniforms through, but at least I’ve gone out and taken some better quality pictures with it – even though the lack of proper pants is a little obvious in these photos. 

They say an officer never forgets his first ship – a Trekkie cosplayer never forgets his first uniform – or, in this case, his first “serious” uniform – either.

This photo, like the previous one, is a 2013 family Christmas tree shot.  But I was the poor sap who had to set up the tree while my parents were at work, so I thought I'd have myself photographed with my handiwork.

Image size
857x2879px 289.11 KB
Make
Canon
Model
Canon PowerShot ELPH 100 HS
Shutter Speed
1/60 second
Aperture
F/2.8
Focal Length
5 mm
ISO Speed
320
Date Taken
Dec 23, 2013, 9:43:57 AM
Sensor Size
4mm
© 2013 - 2024 galaxy1701d
Comments1
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Ozie3DGuy's avatar
Cool star trek uniform man :)