Bernadette Croft (‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’ costume designer) aims to ‘lean into the nostalgia’ for new designs of Vulcans and Klingons [Exclusive Video Interview]
“I’m now a full-fledged Trekkie,” admits Bernadette Croft of her newfound affinity for all things “Star Trek.” The costume designer on the Paramount+ series “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” first learned of the universe through her mother, who “was a really big fan of the original series.” It was through her work as an assistant costume designer on “Star Trek: Discovery” that she became a fan herself. She say it is especially “heartwarming to see how much it really impacts people.” Gold Derby spoke with Croft as part of our “Meet the Experts” TV costume design panel. Watch our exclusive video interview above.
Now in its second season, “Strange New Worlds” has been able to go further into the arcs of its main characters – including Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), Spock (Ethan Peck) and La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) – and reflect that development through the costumes. As Croft says, “Season 1 was all about establishing these character,” especially the “Starfleet uniform.” In the first season, the costume designer wanted to “lean into the nostalgia of ‘Star Trek,’ those colors, that vibrancy,” while adding “microprints… on the shoulders and the arms” that would “create visual interest.” With that crucial look now established, the consumer was able to “continue developing the characters and their emotional story arcs” through their wardrobes.
WATCH our exclusive video interview with Jason Zimmerman, ’Strange New Worlds’ VFX supervisor
True to its name, “Strange New Worlds” often takes the Enterprise into uncharted territory, which is an aspect of the series that Croft loves. “Each episode is like a new genre, a new world or a new alien species, so it’s always fun and exciting and thrilling to be able to be on this journey with the characters,” reflects the costumer. She says that she and her team have about two weeks to prepare the costumes for each episode, which is a short turnaround given just how different the show can be week to week. Some weeks, the designer will have to create “really gritty and rough around the edges” looks and then the next “have this fashion moment.” In the Season 2 premiere “The Broken Circle,” for example, “our team land on this new planet” that’s a mining planet, so she wanted the costumes to be “coated in this residue, so it’s a muted gray metallic residue.”
Klingons play an integral role in “Strange New Worlds,” so Croft has to collaborate very closely with the show’s prosthetics team. “Often prosthetics start a little early on characters, especially if they had to do a fully prosthetic head-to-toe,” says the designer, so she and her team “often take their lead and look at their palette, look at their skin markings, and figure out who the alien is, their socioeconomic background, if they’re fashionable” when they make the costumes. For this series, she wanted to bring something new to the Klingons, which meant “infusing a lot more detail” to “the silhouette and the textures” of their outfits. She mentions in particular the “exoskeletal armor” that was “hand-sculpted” by Alexander Silberberg.
One particularly memorable episode from Season 2, “Those Old Scientists,” features a crossover with the animated “Star Trek” series “Lower Decks.” “It was so fun. I must admit I’m a fan of the show,” shares Croft, who was particularly excited to work with that series’ star Tawny Newsome; Jack Quaid also made the leap from animation to live-action for the installment. Stylistically, the costume designer notes that they “still wanted the costumes to look 2D, so we didn’t add our usual texture to it, we just let it lay flat and we added a liner that made things puff up a little bit so there were no wrinkles.”
As for her favorite looks from the second season, Croft mentions two. First, she says she loves working on the Vulcans because of “the tailoring, the way we can use beautiful fabrics.” Second, “The Klingons were a real highlight” because “fans were very pleased that we didn’t stray too far from the original concept.” The costume designer adds, “Building that armor, making it look a bit more intimidating, graphic, memorable, yeah, that was a real highlight for me and the team.”
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