One of the most iconic elements of Star Trek is arguably the design of Starfleet uniforms. Bright, primary colors, coupled with the iconic Starfleet delta often screams "Star Trek," even to people who are not fans of the franchise. Despite this, there has actually been a lot of variation in Starfleet uniforms over time. Here, I'll try to rank my (entirely subjective) top 10 Starfleet uniforms.
10. Grey shoulders, colored undershirt
Originally designed by Robert Blackman for the 1996 film Star Trek: First Contact, the first appearance of these uniforms was technically in the Deep Space Nine episode "Rapture." Superficially, these uniforms appear to swap the color pattern of the shoulders and collars in the previous uniforms used on DS9—which were also used for all seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager.
Upon closer inspection, however, these uniforms are slightly more detailed, with a quilted pattern on the shoulders and the ability to open the collars on the undershirts. This was presumably done with the big-screen Next Generation movies in mind. While I like that level of detail, I personally prefer more colorful uniforms and find these ones a bit too grim.
9. The Motion Picture's "pajamas"
Although they are often jokingly described as "pajamas," I actually have a soft spot for the uniforms from 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Rather than being complicated or restricting movement, these uniforms, designed by Robert Fletcher, tried to imagine what astronauts of the future might wear and emphasize comfort and practicality over style.
That being said, The bluish greys and beiges selected for these uniforms are not the most exciting to look at. Not only do they lose the clear division indication of the original series uniforms, but they also blend in with the colors of the Enterprise sets. The lack of visual vibrancy also may not help the accusations some make of this movie being boring.