So what's a "Monster Maroon"?!?

Only the coolest Star Trek uniform EVER!

I have no idea who coined the term, but to a Star Trek collector, "Monster Maroon" refers to the officer's uniforms that were created for the landmark "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (WOK). Worn by Admiral Kirk, Captain Spock, and the rest of the officers of the Starship Enterprise, the Maroon became emblematic of the later phase of their ongoing mission, this time in film. The Maroon is my personal favorite Trek uniform and forms the core of my collection.

A new sense of adventure

Prior to WOK, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" – the first of the Trek films released in 1979 – rejected the colorful uniforms of the Original Series in favor of formless grays and bland pastels. Thankfully, Star Trek II director Nick Meyer had a very different vision. He felt the TMP uniforms looked like dull pajamas (they did!) and wanted to get as far away from that as possible.

Costume designer Robert Fletcher embraced Meyer's vision of emulating classic adventure films like "Horatio Hornblower" and "The Prisoner of Zenda". Using those movies for inspiration, he chose the deep red color to make the characters stand out in any setting. And so was born the Monster Maroon! It would be the uniform worn for more than a decade of Star Trek, longer than any other design.

I'm thrilled to own several maroons including those worn by William Shatner as Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Spock, one used by both Kirstie Alley as Saavik and Kim Cattrall as Valeris, and one worn by Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand. I also have two maroon variants – a short jacket style worn by James Doohan as Scotty and a vest version worn by Robin Curtis as Saavik. Check out the links at left to get all the details about these great pieces.