we just announced a BUNCH of new skirts that will be dropping on july 4th at noon eastern time!! 🥳

and yes this includes the tomato skirt that y'all have been asking about 🍅

you can check out the full list of products and find more information on the launch on my blog right now!

Tender Love Stories #3, June 1971. Kurt Schaffenberger (?) cover pencils, John Celardo (?) inks, Shelly Leferman (?) letters.

Lt. Sulu in the original Star Trek series was played by George Takei, who came out as gay in 2005. But there was another gay man who had a significant impact on Star Trek - costume designer William “Bill” Ware Theiss.

While working in the film “Spartacus”, Theiss met Dorothy Fontana, and they quickly became friends. In 1965, Theiss worked on a theater production “The World of Ray Bradbury”, which included some futuristic costumes. Fontana saw a performance of the play and recommended Theiss to Gene Roddenberry, who was developing the original pilot for “Star Trek”. Theiss was hired.

Theiss created the original Star Fleet uniforms for “The Cage” as well as the exotic alien clothing for the Talosians and the sexy human Vina. When the show was picked up for series (after a second pilot), Theiss updated the uniforms to make them more colorful and added the miniskirts. Plus, there were scores of scantily clad aliens.

The women’s rights movement was growing in the 1960s, and some complained that the women on the show were depicted as sex objects.

Oddly enough, the addition of the miniskirts was suggested by Grace Lee Whitney (Yeoman Rand in season one):

"I just didn't think that the women should be in pants.... I think I wanted to look like Flash Gordon,"

Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura) added that miniskirts in the 1960s were part of the cultural movement of women's liberation, not as a symbol of oppression.

"I was wearing them (miniskirts) on the street. What's wrong with wearing them on the air? … It was the era of the miniskirt. Everybody wore miniskirts."

Theiss designed costumes for the entire run of the original series. He was hired back by Roddenberry for the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. (Director Robert Wise chose someone else for 1979’s “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and we all know how ugly those costumes were).

Theiss was nominated for three Oscars during his career: Best Costume design for “Bound for Glory” (1976), “Butch and Sundance: The Early Days” (1979), and “Heart Like a Wheel” (1983). He won an Emmy for his designs for Star Trek: The Next Generation (episode “The Long Goodbye” in 1988).

Theiss was described by his friends and coworkers as "witty," "talkative," and “intelligent”. A few added he was "prickly," "intense," and "rude." Most of all, they say he was a very private person.

Little information about Bill’s private life is available. Gay men of that era often had to hide their sexuality, otherwise risking losing their jobs (yes, even a Hollywood costume designer).

Instead, let’s celebrate Bill Theiss by enjoying his marvelous designs.