The blue cadet jumpsuit Nyota wears for Kirk’s (third) Kobayashi Maru is great because it is exactly the same as what Kirk, and McCoy, and every other cadet in the scenario is wearing. But that is also strange as it is not true in any other scene. Why can women and men wear the same uniform in a training simulation but not in class or on ship?
Plus it’s drab and not particularly flattering on anyone.
Fashion wise, the Kelvin minidress is on point. I love the capped sleeves, the mock turtle neckline, the tiny skirt and tall boots. 100% my aesthetic.
As a uniform it’s silly, and as an homage to the also silly sixties/Prime version it’s missing something vital to uniforms in a ranked organization: rankings. Look at how prominent Spock’s Commander stripes are and how nonexistent Nyota’s Lieutenant stripes are.
Here Uhura also sports short sleeves, but those bars on her shoulders? Indicate she is a Lieutenant Commander. That’s it. That’s all you need. Stripes on sleeves or bars on shoulders. Easy, done, ranked.
Thus:
As a uniform, this version immediately has two points over its predecessor: one and most importantly, rank bars, and two, it matches the men better.
It’s still silly that the uniforms are gendered at all, but it’s also annoying that to de-gender them would mean Nyota wearing what the men wear rather than the reverse. If the minidress would be inappropriate on Captain Kirk, or Lt. Sulu, why is it okay on Lt. Uhura?
But I’m thrilled they didn’t lower the neckline when the lengthened the sleeves – while this uniform clearly references the original series uniform, it’s more conservative.
Not only is the neckline higher, the skirt hangs lower and appears to be angled rather than wrap. These are small details and it’s certainly still a minidress, but it’s a teeny bit more practical for the bridge, or more to the point, for running around in the rocks. So shout out to costume designer Sanja Milkovic Hays (also I love that Spock’s Franklin era jumpsuit resembles Enterprise’s uniforms so much it hurts).
Fashion wise, the shading effect produced by the darker side panels is really cool and the swatch of leather at her hip is a neat addition.
As previously stated, little dresses and big boots is exactly my aesthetic (…because of Star Trek?? You never know).