We previously ran articles on the disturbing truth behind costumes from The Next Generation and Troi’s cleavage. Well, let’s keep the series going with one of the most famous Star Trek uniforms of all time: Seven of Nine’s costume from Voyager. We decided the catsuit deserved its own entry, and here it is. Find out how actress Jeri Ryan suffered to look so beautiful.
1. It Made Her Pass Out
In her first appearance, Seven of Nine appeared as a full Borg drone. When Ryan first put on her Borg uniform, the costume designers apparently didn’t take the prosthetics into account. As a result, the collar kept pressing on her carotid artery, cutting off blood flow to the brain if she turned her head. It made her pass out on the set on at least two occasions.
2. She Couldn’t Breathe
The first thing you notice about Jeri Ryan’s silver catsuit is that it’s tight. Really tight. The official explanation was that the catsuit was made of a revolutionary fabric that helped her skin regenerate. Translation: they wanted the costume to look as tight as possible. The producers wanted her uniform to look like a second skin, and they got it. In Starlog magazine #249 she said, “if I got goosebumps, you could see them.” In fact, it was so tight, she had trouble breathing. It got so bad that they had nurses on the set with oxygen tanks. “It was so tight originally that I passed out four times,” Ryan told USA Today in 1997. “They would bring nurses to the set with oxygen, and I wouldn’t say anything. But after the fourth time passing out, I spoke up.”
That made them finally loosen it up.
3. The Breasts Were Constructed
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| Seven of Nine’s corset underneath the catsuit |
The other thing you notice about the catsuit are the boobs. Let’s face it, they look incredible, and there’s a reason. Since the fabric was supposed to look like skin, they didn’t want the fabric to do what it would naturally do, which is stretch from “high point to high point” (i.e. from one nipple to the other). That’s why they made what the costume designer called “breast mounds,” individual shapes on her catsuit for each of her breasts. It took a special construction of the corset, what Ryan called a “feat of engineering” to achieve it.
4. The Corset Kept Her From Bending
The other distinctive aspect of Seven of Nine’s silver costume is the vertical ribs running along the sides. The in universe explanation for them is that they’re leftovers from her Borg implants, mechanical ribs. In reality, they were just there to disguise her corset. Because the catsuit was so tight, they included a corset to give her a more hourglass shape. With the ribs built into the corset, she couldn’t even bend over or sit comfortably. She was relieved when they introduced the brown catsuit which had a thicker fabric, taking away the need for the corset.
5. Bathroom Breaks Took 20 Minutes
Besides everything we’ve gone over, the worst part is Ryan couldn’t take off the costume without help. That meant bathroom breaks were an ordeal so bad that they had to shut down the set. She said, “If I had to go to the bathroom it was a 20-minute production shutdown.”
“Forget vanity, throw vanity to the wind!” Ryan recalled. “And you can forget anything about privacy because it ain’t gonna happen. Anytime I have to go to the bathroom, everybody has to know about it. It’s announced over the P.A. system, because production stops for a half-hour. ‘We can’t roll a shot. Jeri’s not here.’ ‘Why not, where’s Jeri?’ ‘Jeri has to go 10-100.’ It’s just a whole procedure.”
Then they started just taking the catsuit off after every take.
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What did you think of Seven of Nine?
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<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="34091 ">21 Comments
Yikes that is a really nasty costume. But it looked so good!
Not drinking anything meant she was also dehydrated. It's a wonder she survived. Glad she did and appreciate her sacrifices.
They didn't need to go to that extreme, just for eye candy.
I agree. The corset seems a bit much
She suffered for all of us..okay, mainly men
It did look good. Who knew?
How long was the silver catsuit in play? Because it seems like it disappeared pretty quickly.
Praise bob
The brown one came into play starting with The Raven, so the silver one was only in play for a period of 5-6 episodes (Scorpion Part 2 to Revulsion), with Seven only having an appearance in 2 of them (The Gift, and Day of Honor).
and lesbians. and in my case… straight women that enjoy looking at beauty in all of its many forms.
Well, thank her for the sacrifices and my stunted growth…
I preferred her in a Star Trek uniform than that silly tight outfit they put her in!
I just love it nice suit
Jeri's work and suffering changed Voyager for the better. Though I have to admit that I sometimes wondered about those "Borg Implants"…
When do we get to read the horrifying facts?
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When designing a costume…their first thought …make it look good. It seems many designers don't take into account how the person who is going to wear costumes feels. Maybe pre-testing should be first…I believe the suit could have been changed & made comfortably allowing her to wear it longer..and really ..they couldn't design it so she could go to the ladies room easier… Designer not thinking but I agree ..she looked fantastic and also added knowledge to the show..7 of 9 was no dumb blond!
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I never did like the silver catsuit and I think making Jeri Ryan wear that awful corset and the Borg implants were so unnecessary. Not drinking is not a good idea and taking twenty minutes to remove the garment just to be able to go to the ladies! People rave about the silver catsuit, but I really liked the brown and blue ones a lot better. They looked more comfortable and she would have probably been able to wear them for a lot longer. She looked great in them. Having said that the brown and blue catsuits are still impractical because of the rear and unreachable zips. It must have felt so humiliating to have to ask someone to accompany her to the restroom and undo the zip for her. I say make the men wear catsuits!
I thought she looked awesome and what she went through to achieve that was a true testament to her dedication as a professional actress.
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