This article will present some closeup views of the blue federation sciences dress in my collection that was used in the Star Trek 2nd Season episode “Wolf In The Fold”, which originally aired December 22, 1967. I will show some detailed close-ups of its general construction, including patch, braid, label, and zipper assembly.
This dress was worn by actress Virginia Aldridge who appeared as Lieutenant Karen Tracy in the episode, and became an unfortunate victim of a malicious incorporeal entity that was living on the planet Argelius II when the Enterprise visited for shore leave. For a while, Scotty appeared to be responsible for the murders of several women that were killed by the entity, which “feeds on fear”, and was revealed to have previously taken the form of “Jack the Ripper” on 19th century Earth to commit a series of famous unsolved murders in England.
The dress contains numerous tears on the back and still shows faint evidence of the studio applied faux bloodstains. Below are some photos of Virginia Aldridge in her role as Lt. Tracy immediately after beaming down to the planet surface.
And the composite view below shows the Lieutenant sprawled on the floor after being stabbed by the entity , and a photo of the present day costume arranged in a somewhat similar orientation to its position in the screenshot. I have attempted to reconcile the major tear and simulated bloodstain damage on the dress with annotations on the photo. T1 represents Tear 1; while B1 represents Bloodstain 1. In some cases, the faux bloodstains are just barely visible as slight soiling to the naked eye, and some are discernible on only a small portion of the original surface area over which they were once applied.
A closeup photo showing better detail on some of the faux bloodstain remains is presented below.
And now some detailed views of the dress. Front ...
Rear ...
Top neck region. Note that while most of the black neck collar is firmly sewn to the blue fabric of the body, a portion of the collar at right is more loosely held in place with snap-in clasp attachments.
Starfleet insignia ...
Braid. Note the silver specks evident in the braid. This feature does not seem to be present in modern day replica versions.
The internal hidden zipper assembly ...
The Skirt assembly ...The arm assembly ...
Inside sleeve assembly. Note the generous amount of material folded over inside, that could be available for lengthening the arms as part of the fitting process for a different actress. It is very likely that this costume was used in other episodes prior to being distressed on the back for use in "Wolf In the Fold".
The armpit assembly...