Exceptions and Oddities, part 7

Although the VOY undershirt standard for men seems to have been a 2" collar, there were plenty of exceptions to this "standard," and, just as the TWOK-era undershirt collars tended to vary in height based on the size of the actors' necks, so tended the VOY undershirts.

VOY, 2x22 "Innocence"

For instance, Chakotay's collar looked to be a bit shorter than normal: 

VOY, 5x25 "Warhead"

Harry's sometimes looked to be a smidgen shorter than the "standard" as well:

After the "standardization," even though the "hero" garments appeared to be specifically constructed for the lead actors, and therefore most likely tailored to their specific measurements (rather than generally sized and recycled amongst the supporting cast and extras), there was some variation on the same characters over the years, such as these undershirts the Sisko wore in the same season:

DS9, 4x8 "Little Green Men"

DS9, 4x2 "The Way of the Warrior (part 2)"

Amongst the supporting cast and extras, the collar heights varied considerably over the years.

Some collars were unusually tall: 

Some looked to be slightly taller than average:

Some appeared to conform to the so-called standard height:

Some appeared to be slightly shorter than the "standard": 

Others were unusually short: 

As you can see, collar height varied so much over the years that it's not really feasible to set a definitive standard of screen accuracy; all we can deduce is that the majority of the male main characters had a collar that appeared to be 2" tall, most of the other characters who didn't seemed to have one that was in the neighborhood of 2", and the wide variance among the extras and background performers was likely due at least in part to recycled undershirts and/or construction errors. 

It is for this reason that we decided to include a 2" collar in our pattern, but should you want to heighten or shorten your collar, it's very easy to do, and we'll show you how later in the tutorial!


PREVIOUS: Exceptions and Oddities, part 6

NEXT: "Female Hero Undershirts"