In a futuristic universe, it makes sense that fashion would evolve and change over hundreds of years. Especially, of course, after so much cultural exchange with other species. Being from another time and space doesn’t excuse Star Trek from terrible fashion, though. Sometimes, some looks are so bad that they’d be horrible in any universe. Even beloved captains aren’t free from scrutiny. Just because they save planets doesn’t mean they have fantastic fashion sense.
The franchise has had a lot of great costumes, and also a lot of bad ones.
Here are the 10 Worst Outfits In Star Trek, Ranked.
Neelix
There are a lot of outfits worse than anything Neelix has worn. However, there are few characters that ever dressed as consistently badly as him. Every single one of Neelix’s shirts had those holographic effects that were unpleasant to the eye, his outfits often included gaudy vests, and his clothes in general were unflattering.
The writers didn’t do the best job in making Neelix’s obnoxious traits more endearing, but they could have at least asked to get him dressed better. It doesn’t help his case when he’s even obnoxious to look at.
Of all Star Trek characters (with the exception of some illogical catsuits) he’s by far the worst dressed overall. That doesn’t excuse some terrible one-off looks, though.
Q’s Judge Wear
Somehow this outfit is wonderful and terrible all at once. It’s such a memorable, iconic look with its bright reds and ridiculous hat. Q’s helplessly bored face helps, too, of course.
But at the same time, iconic doesn’t mean good. Not only is the judge costume huge and clunky and horrible, but it looks so much like TNG’s surgeon uniform. Also, if a judge ever actually looked like that, covered in red and menacing, it would be horrifying.
The look may be interesting, but the context and logistics of it just make it a horrible outfit. If it was just something a campy super-being wore for fun? Fabulous. A judge’s outfit? Absolutely not.
Tasha Yar In “Naked Now”
“Naked Now” is an infamous TNG episode based on a TOS classic. An airborne virus infects the crew and makes them act like brazen, blackout drunks. Everyone makes poor decisions and is very sensual. One particular moment involves the serious security chief, Tasha Yar, dressing up and seducing Data. Except, her sexy look is her hair so slick it looks wet and her body wrapped in what look live scarves. It’s not nearly as attractive as Tasha’s confidence would suggest.
The worst part, though, is that supposedly they are clothes she stole from Deanna. Deanna, why?!
“Angel One” Riker
Early on in TNG (early enough for pre-beard Riker!), the away team goes to Angel One, a planet run by the women of their species. Starfleet men crash landed on the planet and have been causing the locals trouble.
But the fashion disaster isn’t the beautiful women of Angel One. It’s actually their men and, in particular, one Will Riker. While on the planet he dresses appropriately. And dressing appropriately means a v-neck to his navel, tight pants, and so much chest hair wrapped in holographic blue. While Riker is a handsome man, that look is a terrible one. All the nip slips!
Casual-Wear of Edo
There have been a lot of skimpy outfits on Star Trek, but few have been as planet-wide as the people of Edo. Edo is a proverbial Eden where people love and express freely. Well, except for that whole “break any law ever and we execute you” clause.
Ignoring that fun aspect of their culture, their casual wear is absurd. Everyone wears tiny swimwear-esque outfits with cross-fabric decoration in the front. Worse, it’s super thin. Thin enough that it probably doesn’t matter that they’re wearing them in the first place.
Even in a utopia, that’s absurd and impractical.
Lwaxana In “The Forsaken”
Lwaxana always has fabulous, bizarre outfits of all shapes and materials. They can be beautiful or they can be horrifying. However, the most alarming of all is the pink “thing” she wears on her first trip to DS9. Donning a hot pink wig and a ruffled, uncomfortable purple shade, she just doesn’t look her best.
When her dress and hair are louder than her personality, there’s a problem, because Lwaxana is pretty loud.
It’s probably the wigs (pink, platinum blonde, orange creamsicle) that really threw her looks over the top. For such a lovely mix of obnoxious and charming, Lwaxana really deserves better fashion than that. Especially if she’s going to be trying to charm Odo, something that only made the episode weirder.
Picard’s Shorts
Whenever the beloved Captain Picard is lounging, he picks some pretty artistic things to do: reading, study, etc. However, the part where it gets weird is what he’s wearing. Every time Picard is supposed to be super comfortable, he’s wearing very, very short shorts.
Now, no one can blame the guy for enjoying a good tiny short. However, his shorts are always silk or tight and it starts feeling like we’re interrupting an intimate moment that we shouldn’t be apart of. It doesn’t help he always has silky, open robes on with them. The robes are great, but the short shorts are just too far.
No one ever wanted to see their captain like this.
The Capellans In “Friday’s Child”
Ever wonder what “I Dream of Jeanie” would look like but with stout, buff men with feather boas? No? Well, too late. In “Friday’s Child” Kirk and co. interact with a race of people called The Capellans. While they all have goofy costumes, the winners are some large men with pink and purple jumpsuits and blonde ponytails coming out of the jumpsuits.
Yes, it is as bizarre and alarming as it sounds.
Either the costume department wanted a laugh or they got the wrong set costumes that day. Regardless of whatever they were thinking, these outfits are absolutely terrible.
T’Pol’s Catsuit
There were many unnecessary catsuits in Star Trek, but even among Deanna’s impractical counselor outfit and Seven of Nine’s uncharacteristically too sexy costume, T’Pol’s is the worst. None of her fellow Vulcan wear similar outfits, and once she joins the crew of the Enterprise, she doesn’t change into something similar.
Ridiculously tight and impractical, a commanding officer should never wear something like that. Especially considering that only became her costume for the “sexiness” factor. Between this, weird Archer dreams, forced Trip massages, and more, T’Pol had to deal with a horrible version of writers’ whims.
All Female One-Off Costumes In TOS
If there was just one, it would be an easy choice. Of course the outfits of “The Gamesters of Triskelion”, “Mudd’s Women”, or “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” are great horrible examples of women’s costumes. But let’s be honest. They all are pretty terrible. TOS is infamous for making the outfits of one-off female characters needlessly sexy. Male characters in the same episode can cover up, of course, but the women get weird cut-outs, crotch tassels, and all breast accenting possible.
Obviously shows are allowed to have sexy outfits and characters, but it’s pretty awful when almost all the female guest stars are subjected to it. And, more than likely, they were about to make out with Captain Kirk.
What a yikes.
