Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock on Star Trek, Episode 1.28: “The City on the Edge of Forever”
Vitals
Leonard Nimoy as Spock, time-traveling starship officer
New York City, Fall 1930
Series: Star Trek
Episode: “The City on the Edge of Forever” (Episode 1.28)
Air Date: April 6, 1967
Director: Joseph Pevney
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Costume Designer: William Ware Theiss
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Last year, a BAMF Style reader smartly suggested writing about the classic workwear commandeered by two USS Enterprise officers upon “passing through ripples in time” and landing in Depression-era New York City in the landmark Star Trek episode “The City on the Edge of Forever”.
Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his part-Vulcan first officer, the brilliant Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), were forced to leap through a portal on a mysterious planet, in pursuit of their cordrazine-crazed medical officer “Bones” McCoy (DeForest Kelley), whose actions on the other side of the portal inadvertently altered the past to a degree that erased the Enterprise and its crew from existence. Without their advanced technology at his disposal, Spock is forced to improvise “to construct a mnemonic memory circuit using stone knives and bearskins” and determine how Bones’ actions affected the future, eventually finding Kirk’s new love interest, pacifist missionary Edith Keeler (Joan Collins), to be at the center of it all.
As actor Leonard Nimoy died ten years ago today on February 27, 2015, today’s post follows up on my previous entry about Captain Kirk’s found workwear by exploring Spock’s purloined pea coat and jeans.
What’d He Wear?
Kirk and Spock quickly realize that their futuristic Starfleet costumes are “a little out of step with the time” upon their arrival in New York circa 1930, prompting Kirk to forage for fresh threads from a nearby fire escape… rationalizing to Spock that “we’ll steal from the rich and give back to the poor later.” Kirk’s expression may not have been totally accurate as the clothing he finds are more consistent with working-class apparel than anything that would have been worn by “the rich”.
Spock’s distinctively pointed ears require a little extra sartorial effort to blend in among a population who may not buy that he caught his head in a mechanical rice picker as a child, so Kirk adds a royal-blue ribbed-knit wool watch cap to Spock’s kit. Alternately known as a beanie, skull cap, or toque, these simple knitted caps have been a cold-weather staple for centuries. Following a common practice with these hats, Spock wears his with the end narrowly cuffed around the edge.
“He knows, Doctor. He knows.”
Spock’s pea coat generally follows the design of this centuries-old naval workwear, though the heavy wool cloth is dyed a dark shade of green rather than the more traditional navy-blue. The coat has a broad ulster-style collar and widely spaced 6×3-button double-breasted front. The set-in sleeves are finished with plain cuffs, and the back is split with a single vent. The patch-style hip pockets are each covered with a straight flap.
Spock’s slate-blue shirt is made from a durable fabric with a softly napped finish, perhaps a lightweight cotton flannel. With only an open-top breast pocket, the shirt lacks the usual pocket styles characteristic of a work-shirt but the cloth and color still harmonize with his hardy attire. The shirt has a spread collar, single-button cuffs, and a front placket that fastens with six blue plastic buttons.
While Kirk’s light-taupe jeans are obviously Lees, Spock’s blue denim jeans are less simple to identify—and almost certainly anachronistic, as most of the details align with contemporary fashions of the 1960s than the boxier, utilitarian jeans produced through the Prohibition era. They have the usual five-pocket layout, with the front pockets dramatically curved (like Lee) and the back pockets each detailed with an arcuate stitch (like Levi’s), though the jeans lack any clear brand identification beyond these common features. The presence of belt loops rather than suspender buttons or a cinch-back strap date these straight-leg jeans to at least the postwar era.
Though Kirk appears to continue wearing his black Starfleet boots, Spock has adopted a pair of low black leather lace-up shoes with black socks.
How to Get the Look
Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock on Star Trek, Episode 1.28: “The City on the Edge of Forever”
Spock is hardly “costumed a little out of step with the time” after Kirk steals him a timeless outfit of naval-informed workwear—watch cap, work shirt, pea coat, and jeans—all of which remain fashionable and functional winter staples nearly a century after the episode was set.
- Dark-green wool pea coat with 6×3-button double-breasted front, straight flapped patch pockets on hips, and single vent
- Slate-blue cotton flannel shirt with spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and single-button cuffs
- Blue denim straight-leg jeans with belt loops and five-pocket layout
- Royal-blue ribbed-knit wool watch cap
- Black leather lace-up shoes
- Black socks
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out Star Trek: The Original Series.
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