Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Star Trek Costumes

Robert Blackman provides the foreword to Paula M. Block’s and Terry J. Erdmann’s and Insight Editions’ hardbound book: Star Trek Costumes.

Celebrating ‘Five Decades Of Fashion From The Final Frontier’ the books examines the various costumes seen in all the Star Trek films and TV series.

As a fan of Star Trek since its original airing in 1966 I was, and am, impressed about how functional and eloquent Star Trek costumes are/were.

The original series broke all sci-fi costume conventions by having uniform and outfits that were simple, functional and looked like the matched perfectly with whatever human or alien was wearing them.

Of course the primary colors, simplistic details and design had a lot to do with the then current state of TV production.  Color TV was at its infancy and bold, bright and simple designs showed up best on the small screen.  Those elements also applied to sets, aliens, worlds and ships.

As the years progressed from the 1960s TV series to the movies and subsequent new TV series costumes became more refined yet still retained their clean and functional look.

What makes this book especially ‘fascinating’ (to quote a certain Vulcan) is that it contains outstanding color photos of costumes (some standalone and some on actors) along with interesting text pieces highlighting facts about the costumes and when they appeared.

This is far more than a book just about clothing, it is about a cultural phenomenon that has influenced TV shows and films since its inception.

Turn each page slowly, relish the photos, immerse yourself into the text and relive history in the making.