Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Costume Designer Bernadette Croft talks inspirations in new interview
The costumes in STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS were inspired by the ones in the original series
MAY 25, 2022 - If you’ve been watching Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, you are likely getting a sort of updated Original Series vibe in a number of ways. We are back to more episodic storytelling, for one thing. But how about those uniforms? The colors and other design features should look familiar, and we have costume designer Bernadette Croft to thank for that.
Bernadette Croft worked on two seasons of Star Trek: Discovery with costume designer Gersha Phillips and is now the costume designer for SNW, though Phillips also worked on the first episode. Croft spoke with Inverse about the approach to designing the SNW costumes.
Croft says that the costumes for Strange New Worlds needed to begin by acknowledging the designs of The Original Series’ William Ware Theiss. “We needed a retro-futuristic look combined with design elements from shows like Discovery. It was a bit of a design challenge to link them up.”
Yet viewers will notice that the TOS-era miniskirts are gone but not forgotten. Croft credits Rebecca Romijn, SNW’s Number One, with the update. "Rebecca was like: ‘You can make it look badass, and you can fight, you can do whatever you need to do in a dress.’ And we were like, yes, you absolutely can! And that's why you can wear leggings or pants underneath. It still looks dignified, and you know, it's still uniform. Thank goodness Rebecca brought that up.”
Then there are the away team jackets. For much more on them and the other costume designs in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which “reflect a blend of nostalgia and contemporary style in a way the previous series never have,” head over to Inverse.
To see those designs in action, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is streaming now on Paramount+.
David is a contributing writer for Daily Star Trek News on the Roddenberry Podcast Network. He is a librarian, baseball fan, and book and movie buff. He has also written for American Libraries and Skeptical Inquirer. David also enjoys diverse music, but leans toward classical and jazz. He plays a mean radio.
