Behind the seams of my Star Trek captain’s costume

After spending my childhood dreaming of joining Starfleet and my adulthood of roaming the universe with Captains Kirk, Picard, Janeway, Sisko and Archer, I finally got command of my own ship.

I now have an original-series captain’s uniform. It’s part replica, part cosplay, and I feel like I could roam the halls of the Enterprise when I’m wearing it.

Instead, I’ll be prowling the Star Trek 50th anniversary convention in Las Vegas this week for CNET, just the nudge I needed to finally complete my costume. This is the story of how it all came together.

I chose to go with my first love, the original series. As much as I identified with Spock, my younger self stepped forward and told adult me: “You need to be the captain of a Constitution-class starship.” So I based my costume on Captain Kirk.

All through middle school, I wore an original-series Star Trek movie insignia on my jacket. The one with the bar behind it and a circle around the Starfleet logo. It was an everyday testament to my fandom. These days, I might wear something subtle, like a Star Trek T-shirt or an IDIC necklace. But when I go to the convention, I’ll be decked out and ready for duty in command gold.

The prize feature of my costume is a Captain Kirk tunic from costume maker Anovos. The shirt is copied from patterns and materials from a screen-used Spock tunic. It’s meant to be an exact replica of the shirt William Shatner wore (Spock’s tunic had the same design pattern as Kirk’s) and I can personally find no flaws with it. A man’s size small fits me perfectly. I shimmy into it, close the shoulder zipper and transform into a Starfleet captain, fulfilling a long-held dream. But don’t call me Captain Kirk. I’m Captain Kooser.

Saheli