ST-TNG and 1980s hair fashion

[Wingsley]

One thing that STAR TREK has shown us is that the fashions of the time tend to wind up being immortalized by each succeeding series.

TOS very effectively captured the mini-skirts and "B-52 hair" crazes of the late 1960s. It also captured several 1960s men's hair styles effectively as well.

TNG very effectively gave us some great 1980s hair styles on both the men and the women as well, segueing into early- to mid-1990s hairstyles as well.

Naturally, DS9 and VOY captured the gradual transition from the women's fluffy "big hair" of the early 90s to the straight-hair styles of more recent years, culminating in ENT's exhibition of hairstyles from the early 2000s.

But the TMP movie era overlapped, so there are actors/actresses with very similar hairstyles to TNG as well.

Did TNG's makeup artists do anything with TNG hairstyles to make them stand out and be relatively unique? I ask this because during TOS' first year, the characters often wore pointed sideburns to give them a futuristic touch. I was wondering if anyone noticed a similar trend in TNG "fashion".

 

[C.E. Evans]

If you really look closely at the hairstyles of ENT, they're really close to fairly conservative hairstyles of the early 1960s (if not late 1950s).

 

[Nerys Myk]

TMP was almost a decade before TNG. The hair seemed much more 70s than late 80s. Especially Kirk's curls and Uhura's natural.

 

[ChristopherPike]

This reminds me. Just the other night I was flicking through TV channels and stopped on one playing 80's music videos...

...and there was a dancing detective with a megaphone busting in on a party held by red cod-piece wearing rapper Cameo.

"Word Up" Levar Burton!

 

[Nerys Myk]

I just saw a movie from the 80s featuring Cheryl McFadden.

 

[Mojochi]

One fashion trend on TNG was that even though the featured female characters mostly had long hair, many of the other female crew members were given rather drastically short haircuts

 

[JRoss]

OP, you said "great" 80s hair and I got confused.

One thing I like about Ensign Jae's hair (bottom left) is that I can always point her out to my wife when showing her how they use the same background crew over and over.

 

[Belakun]

The hair style looks cool, right? I think so

 

[Wingsley]

Mojochi and JRoss,

Thanks. Interesting observations.

Did anyone see any other distinctive characteristics?

 

[Doug Otte]

One fashion trend on TNG was that even though the featured female characters mostly had long hair, many of the other female crew members were given rather drastically short haircuts

Those shorter styles were also popular at the time.

Doug

 

[Gul Bones]

To be fair in TNG out of the main cast, the only haircut that truly screamed 80's was Dr Crusher's haircut in the 1st season. Troi's maybe too, though the curls got less fluffy and severe as the show went on.

Generally the hairstyles of the female cast in DS9/Voyager wouldn't look out of places nowadays. The male cast members tended to have conservative haircuts anyway, apart from maybe Bashir's haircut in the early seasons which was a bit fluffy and early 90s.

 

[davejames]

Actually I think I read that the TOS actors were made to wear their hair much shorter than was common for the time (which they were apparently not crazy about). It's not until the third season that you start to see the shaggier, longer hair of the time unfortunately come into play.

And yeah, the TNG hairstyles do look a bit dated, but at least they're not the super ugly and poofy styles of the early 80s. Mostly they just look a bit... drab and lifeless. As apparently no one had discovered highlights yet. Lol

 

[Timewalker]

I rather liked the shorter hair on the background female TNG crew. It was attractive, yet practical. I never liked ANY of Deanna's hair style choices, though. Season 1 just looked painful. The huge curly 'dos of the mid-series made me wonder if she ever got it stuck in the turbolift doors. And the hair she had in the last season and the movies just looked sloppy.

While TOS is my favorite Trek series, I will say this: How the hell did Janice Rand ever have the time to keep up her "basketweave" hairdo, let alone perform any of her normal crew duties?

 

[Lance]

during TOS' first year, the characters often wore pointed sideburns to give them a futuristic touch. I was wondering if anyone noticed a similar trend in TNG 'fashion'.

The pointed sideburns carried through Next Gen as well in places. Riker sported some before he grew the beard. But they were pretty much phased out during DS9/VOY.

 

[Tosk]

during TOS' first year, the characters often wore pointed sideburns to give them a futuristic touch. I was wondering if anyone noticed a similar trend in TNG 'fashion'.

The pointed sideburns carried through Next Gen as well in places. Riker sported some before he grew the beard. But they were pretty much phased out during DS9/VOY.

They didn't get phased out, they remained standard issue all the way up to Nemesis.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

They were just less obvious I think. The pointed sideburns weren't as prominent as they were in TOS IIRC

 

[Lance]

The pointed sideburns carried through Next Gen as well in places. Riker sported some before he grew the beard. But they were pretty much phased out during DS9/VOY.

They didn't get phased out, they remained standard issue all the way up to Nemesis.

You are quite correct, my recollection was faulty. I was under the impression Chakotay didn't have them, but I just did a quick Google image search which has proven me wrong.

 

[Tosk]

In retrospect, I realize how silly my "standard issue" reference is.

"Okay cadet, here's your phaser, your communicator, and your sideburns."

 

[sojourner]

I never noticed that TNG had a zombie killin, telepathic, stunt woman on the crew!

 

[Lance]

In retrospect, I realize how silly my "standard issue" reference is.

"Okay cadet, here's your phaser, your communicator, and your sideburns."