William Ware Theiss William " Bill " Ware Theiss worked as Costume Designer for the entire run of " , the abandoned " " television project , and for the first season of . " Star Trek " . Bill Theiss received credit as " Costume Designer " on the entirety of the " Original Series " , and as " Costume Creator " and " Executive Consultant " on the first season of " The Next Generation " , winning an Emmy Award for the episode in 1988 . In the following seasons he was credited as " Original Starfleet Uniforms / Starfleet Uniforms Created By " , in the process earning a second Emmy Award nomination for . Theiss ' costumes can be seen throughout " The Next Generation " s first three seasons ( only worn by background actors in season 3 ) , and also in the episodes , , , , and in . His original series creations can be also seen in , and . " The Original Series " . Bill Theiss ' distinctive clothing style for the " The Veldt " , a mid - 1960s one - act play from " The World of Ray Bradbury " , caught the attention of DC Fontana , and introduced Theiss to Gene Roddenberry . Getting along on a personal level , Roddenberry , who was already interviewing candidates for the position , signed Theiss on as costume designer for his first " Star Trek " pilot , , and eventually the upcoming television show . While Theiss has designed recognizable utilitarian clothing for the show , the most notable ones the iconic Starfleet uniform s , it were his more explicit female garment designs , especially those for " guest " characters , that drew the most attention , as well as some controversy , among others in feminist circles , or as Theiss himself had put it at the time , " a lot of noise and some indignation " . ( " " , issue 7 , p . 5 ) Even his female Starfleet uniforms were not beyond reproach , in regard to the short skirt length . Decades later that would be playfully hinted at , when writers would have Jadzia Dax dry - wittingly remark , " " . . . And women wore less . . . " " in s fifth season episode , as she dons a Theiss - style Starfleet uniform . ( ) In spite of feminist objections , it was actually a woman who was responsible for the introduction of the Starfleet mini skirts and not Roddenberry , as " Star Trek " lore would have it at the time . It was Grace Lee Whitney , brought in to play Yeoman Janice Rand , who made the suggestion to Theiss , after she had done pre - production , wearing the second pilot style uniforms with pants . Whitney explained , " " In fact I was the one that made them do that . My concept of ladies in space were not to look like men . I read a lot of comic books as a kid , and I just saw the ladies as looking as we did . Actually it was shorts with the skirt flap over the front . Bill Theiss did that . And the black stockings , the boots , and the legs . I thought it was just outstanding . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol 27 # 11 , p . 48 - 49 ) His female garment style can be summed up in the " Theiss Theory of Titillation " – self coined and first mentioned in Stephen Whitfield ' s 1968 reference book " The Making of Star Trek " , p . 360 – , which stated " the degree to which a costume is considered sexy is directly dependent upon how accident - prone it appears to be . " Not all female guest stars were fully appreciative of Theiss ' s approach to designing , as he recalled on one occasion , " " When I first met Jill Ireland , she was a little uneasy about me , and I didn ' t found out until later it was because she had seen Sherry Jackson ' s costume , and she was afraid I was going to do as revealing on her . " " ( " " , issue 7 , p . 5 ) Nevertheless , over the next decades , his garments would attain near - legendary status , and a number of them , including some of the more titillating ones , have been for the first and only time , before being auctioned off , on public display at the 1992 - 1993 " Star Trek Smithsonian Exhibit " . Apart from his clothing , Theiss ' other noticeable contribution to the " Star Trek " universe , was the Vulcan IDIC symbol , he designed for the episode . Theiss was perceived as a demanding and hard driving man by his staff of dressers and costumers , impressed upon by his adages such as , " Stop when all work is done – and not before " , and " Better rude than late " . Colleague and customer Andrea Weaver noted in this regard , " " Bill Theiss was a very creative designer . His designs for " Star Trek " were original rather than distilled from other sources , or redefinitions of previous work . This is what I appreciated about Bill Theiss . I thought he was a truly unique and rare costume creator . Others may have agreed but were more influenced by Bill ' s personal eccentricities and rudeness . . . " " ( " " , p . 119 ) " Phase II " . One decade after the " Original Series " , Bill Theiss was invited back by Gene Roddenberry to participate as costume designer on the " Star Trek : Phase II " television project . Theiss heeded the invitation and started to work on the project in July 1977 . Partly as a cost saving measure , Theiss did not design entirely new Starfleet uniforms , but updated these , thereby enabling the re - use of those " Original Series " uniforms still stored at the studio warehouses , yet stressed that civilian clothing had to be designed from scratch , as he outlined in a memo dated August 23 . However , when the final decision was made in November to upgrade the television project to a full , newly appointed Director Robert Wise decided in March 1978 that the uniforms had to be completely redesigned , and to this end Wise brought in Robert Fletcher , causing Theiss ' participation in the project to end . ( " " , pp . 28 - 29 , 39 - 40 , 62 ) " The Next Generation " . Nevertheless , once the outlines for a new television show , " Star Trek : The Next Generation " , were in place another decade later , Bill Theiss was again invited back by Roddenberry to join the new show in early 1987 . Whether or not this had anything to do with him being unceremoniously laid off by Wise a decade before , Theiss started working from what he had done on the original show and the " Phase II " project , entirely dismissing Fletcher ' s input for the up to then . While the majority of his designs were utilitarian , a few harkened back to his titillating ones of the " Original Series " , most notably , the crisscrossing harem girl outfit worn by Tasha Yar ( Denise Crosby ) in , and the chest baring costume worn by Commander William T . Riker ( Jonathan Frakes ) in . Theiss recalled at the time , " " Denise has a terrific body and was comfortable exposing it to a degree . She had no problem with her costume . " " Frakes , however , was more self - conscious , " " But that was fine , because as Riker , he was supposed to be uncomfortable with the outfit , and Jonathan is enough of a professional that he used his own uneasiness to his character ' s advantage . That episode was really tough to design for . " " , Theiss continued . Theiss opted not to return after the first season , partly due to Roddenberry ' s uninitiated attorney and business partner Leonard Maizlish , who " destructively " meddled with the creative decision making for the new series , and partly due to the onset of the disease that was eventually to take his life . ( " " , p . 433 ) Still , it did not prevent him from being nominated for the second Emmy Award , together with his successor Durinda Wood for the second season . Asked which of his many creations , he counted among his favorites , Theiss has stated , " " The gown for Leslie Parrish in seems to get a lot of attention . " [ note : at the time Whitfield reported , that while Parrish herself was completely comfortable and had no qualms about wearing and moving in it , it were " the crew and set visitors who had all the qualms " ( " The Making of Star Trek " , p . 361 ) ] " Other than that , I don ' t know . Michelle Phillips ' outfit in is quite sensational ; and Denise Crosby ' s punk - of - the - future costume from the sewer scene in is good . The problem is that a lot of my work is seen on screen for only two to three seconds , and even then it might be in a bad light or angle . Like Commander K ' Nera ' s uniform in . I was very proud of that . " " Incidentally , Theiss was not wrong in his assessment of Parrish ' s gown , as it brought in ten times the high estimate , when it was sold in the below mentioned auction of 1993 . A private man , Theiss was never one for interviews , the comments he made to Whitfield for his 1968 book , a 1968 - 1969 two - part interview , conducted by D . C . Fontana for the fanzine " " , as well as the 1988 unpublished interview , on the occasion of his Emmy Award win , the only ones known to date . ( " see links below " ) Career outside " Star Trek " . An attendee for eight semesters at the " Art Center College of Design " in Pasadena , California ( which also counts Andrew Probert and Mark Stetson among their alumni , and like Probert following after his service in the United States Navy ) , Theiss ' first job was as ' s personal assistant , whose ex - wife , actress , Theiss has cited as having considerable influence on his career . ( " " , p . 116 ) His first contribution to films was the 1960 movie " Spartacus " , albeit uncredited . Theiss continued to work in theater , film and television for more than thirty years . His work included among others the 1971 films " Harold and Maude " ( featuring Ellen Geer and photographed by John A . Alonzo ) , as well as " Pretty Maids All in a Row " ( produced by Roddenberry ) . During his career Theiss has earned three " Academy Award for Costume Design " nominations for " Bound for Glory " ( 1976 ) , " Butch and Sundance : The Early Days " ( 1979 ) , and " Heart Like a Wheel " ( 1983 ) , though his one " Star Trek " Emmy Award was to remain the only motion picture award he ever won in his career . Theiss died in 1992 , a victim of AIDS , at the age of 61 . Theiss apparently has retained ownership over most of his creations , as a large number of his " Original Series " creations – pulled halfway through from the New York City venue of the " Smithsonian Exhibit " – were sold off as his estate in the December 1993 " The William Ware Theiss Estate Auction " , the proceeds of which he willed , poignantly appropriate , to " Project Angel Food " , a LA - based non - profit agency that served hundreds of meals on a daily basis to those challenged by HIV - AIDS , cancer and other diseases .