Misc. Observations, part 1 (Hero Collars, part 1)

Apart from the collar height, the other aspect of the collars that notably varied over the years was the use of "standard collars" and "hero collars" - that is, a collar that was a single piece of fabric folded in half, or a two-piece collar (collar + collar facing). 

We like to call the one-piece collar the "standard collar" and the two-piece collar the "hero collar," but the term may be somewhat inaccurate; the term "hero" seems to imply that that technique was used on the main cast's costumes while the "standard" was used for everybody else (supporting and recurring cast, extras, etc.), but the actual evidence of "hero collar" construction amongst the main characters indicates that the "hero collar" seemed to used for the majority of the characters the majority of the time, but not always! 

In other words, one might expect "hero" uniforms for the main cast to nearly always have been constructed a certain way, and "standard" uniforms to nearly always have been constructed in a more time and/or money-saving manner and perhaps lacking detail and/or features of the "hero" uniforms. But that's not quite the case here, as most of the main cast had "hero collars" most of the time, but not everybody, and certainly not always. 

But we think "hero collar" sounds better than "almost and/or probably hero collar," and we like the "hero collar" construction better, so for want of a better term, that's what we call it ...

A "hero collar" is identified by the slight bulge at the top of the collar, caused by the collar/collar facing seam allowance being "sandwiched" between the layers.

"Standard collar"

"Hero collar"

The "hero collar" seam line was seldom visible; it was often rolled inward slightly - say, ⅟16"or ⅛" - as seen on Bashir's in Deep Space Nine's late fourth season episode "The Quickening":

DS9, 4x24 "The Quickening"

It was, however, sometimes (and less ideally, in our opinion), at the very top of the collar, (not rolled inward), but with the collar and collar facing flush, as seen on Janeway in Voyager's fourth season premiere, "Scorpion":

VOY, 4x1 "Scorpion (part 2)"

As mentioned previously, it does seem to have been intended that the 2-piece "hero collar" was the standard/ideal, as they were used mostly throughout the later years of these uniforms' run. 

But even the collar construction underwent some experimentation and evolution over the years. 

When these uniforms were first introduced in Deep Space Nine, the standard collars (we're dropping the quotation marks from now on, now that you know the term is somewhat arbitrary and why we're using it) seemed to be the norm.

DS9, 1x4 "A Man Alone"

DS9, 1x5 "Babel"

DS9, 1x8 "Dax"

Interestingly, it seems that Jadzia had the first hero collar, first easily noticeable as early as the 8th episode of Deep Space Nine's first season, appropriately titled "Dax":

Here, you can clearly see her hero collar by comparison to Bashir's standard collar:

DS9, 1x16 "If Wishes Were Horses"

DS9, 3x4 "Equilibrium"

Jadzia's VOY undershirts had hero collars the majority of the time, but not always, as evidenced by her undershirt in Deep Space Nine's early third season episode "Equilibrium": 

Still, for whatever reason (perhaps an early gender construction preference, perhaps because of her shorter-than-average collar, or perhaps simply because somebody else made her undershirts than made the other undershirts at the time and/or there was a design/construction miscommunication) Jadzia's VOY undershirts introduced the consistent hero collar. 

Her collar/collar seam allowance did noticeably vary over the years, though.

DS9, 1x8 "Dax"

DS9, 1x16 "If Wishes Were Horses"

DS9, 3x17 "Visionary"

Bashir was next in line to get "upgraded" to the hero collar, the following year (the middle of Deep Space Nine's second season, early 1994):

DS9, 2x5 "Cardassians"

DS9, 2x12 "The Alternate"

From the middle of Deep Space Nine's second season (early 1994) onward, Bashir's VOY undershirts usually had a hero collar, but not always. 

For instance, the next year, in the Deep Space Nine's mid-third season episode "Life Support" (early 1995), he wore multiple VOY undershirts, sometimes having a standard collar and sometimes having a hero collar!

DS9, 3x13 "Life Support"

The Sisko seemed to be next in line for the hero collar upgrade at the beginning of Deep Space Nine's third season, but the evidence is a bit flimsy; the best we could find was this shot from Deep Space Nine's third season premiere, "The Search" (late 1994):

DS9, 3x2 "The Search (part 2)"

Also in late 1994 came TNG's feature film debut, Generations, and some of the TNG crew wore this style uniform in various scenes throughout the movie. 

Interestingly, the members of the TNG crew who wore these VOY-style undershirts in Generations all appeared to have standard collars (with the possible exception of Geordi).

Generations

(We couldn't find a clear screencap of Geordi's undershirt collar, sorry!)

Contrarily, only a few months later (early 1995) Voyager premiered, and almost every lead Starfleet character had a hero collar right from the beginning!

VOY, 1x1 "Caretaker"

In fact, everybody had a hero collar on that show except poor Harry Kim:

DS9, 4x1 "The Way of the Warrior"

The Sisko definitely had a hero collar by the beginning of the Deep Space Nine's following season in "The Way of the Warrior" (late 1995):

He seemed to consistently have a hero collar from then onward, as well (including the collar on his later-style DS9/NEM division shirt).

DS9, 4x6 "Rejoined"

Worf also had a hero collar when he joined the cast that season (also late 1995):

We're unsure of when exactly O'Brien's collar got upgraded to the hero collar, but he seemed to have one by the middle of Deep Space Nine's fourth season (early 1996), and definitely by Deep Space Nine's early fifth season (late 1996). 

DS9, 4x15 "Sons of Mogh"

DS9, 5x15 "The Assignment"

Not long after that, on Deep Space Nine, the VOY-style uniforms upgraded to those introduced in First Contact, and Voyager continued to use these uniforms. And so things remained for years ... 

VOY, 5x26 "Equinox (part 1)"

Poor Harry was finally upgraded to a hero collar at some point late in Voyager's fifth season (early/mid 1999):

During those later years, on the rare occasion Seven of Nine was shown in a Starfleet uniform, she also had a hero collar:

VOY, 5x24 "Relativity"

VOY, 7x18 "Human Error"

As you can see, with the exception of the TNG crew in Generations, over the years, the undershirts of every main (Starfleet) character on both Deep Space Nine and Voyager either initially had or were upgraded to the hero collar, and it seems that said hero collar was eventually intended to be the ideal standard for main characters. 

(Such seemed to also be the case with the later style DS9/NEM division shirts, but we won't go into that in this tutorial; see our DS9/NEM division shirt tutorial for our analysis of that garment.) 

Hence our dubbing it the "hero collar."


PREVIOUS: "Female Hero Undershirts"

NEXT: Misc. Observations, part 2 (Hero Collars, part 2)