[MissionTrek08]

I'm betting hunger was still involved.

[Star Trek]

Pine's gonna make black the new 'black'...

[Elizadolots]

That and bad typing (I was trying to type AIM).

While I get the theory that it's "just the undershirt" doesn't the fact that it's a) long sleeved (do you see any black sleeves peeking out under the cuffs of the others?) and has the emblem on it in the exact place it is on the uniform makes me think it's not just the undershirt. While it's fine for Abrams to redesign the undies as well as the uniform, it seems rather silly for a garment intended to be worn under another garment to have a specific emblem in the exact place the over garment would have it....

[The Saint]

Look at the Academy spy shots. Lots of red uniforms -- cadets. A few black uniforms -- Instructors. According to at least the original canon, Kirk was an instructor at the Academy for awhile before taking command of the Enterprise. Bet you anything that's his Instructor's uniform.

If it were the undershirt, no reason to have the ship's delta on it. If it were a Captain's uniform, it'd be gold with a Captain's rank piping on the sleeve. If it were a "special ops" Starfleet uniform, with the rest of the visual style being reportedly form following function, a "special ops" uniform would have pockets. That shirt has none. Instructor's uniform makes perfect sense.

EDIT: It just occurred to me that the question could be asked: Why would a Starfleet Academy instructor's uniform have Enterprise's delta on it? Ships of that era each had their own distinct Starfleet logo on the uniform. Well, that's the old canon, and like it or not, this is entirely new canon. That might not hold true here, and Starfleet may have a service-wide logo in this canon to begin with, where it happened much later in the original canon.

EDIT 2: Yep -- in fact, that's exactly right. Take a look at this photo:

http://aqua.mysfdb.com/STXI/2272x1704_Academy_Set_3.JPG

-- at the standing translucent screen bearing (what was traditionally) Enterprise's delta -- at Starfleet Academy. Dollars to doughnuts, kids, there's your explanation for Kirk's black uniform.

[AJBlue98]

I keep saying this, and you really should listen to me, that the delta shield was the Starfleet insignia long before it was the Enterprise mission insignia. Expect to see a different mission insignia on the Kelvin, or at least in the sequel. JJ isn't going to screw canon THAT badly!

[mmoore]

Nope, nope, and nope. Kirk's wearing a red uniform in the shuttle pic with McCoy. The instructor and cadet uniforms have long pants, the bridge pic has short or tucked legs. I'm betting the academy pic is graduation day. The black shirt is, IMO, away mission dress. Just because you haven't seen it yet doesn't mean there wasn't a jacket to go over the shirt.

Overanalyzing stuff again, people. Seeing things that aren't there. Wishful thinking. Needful things. Whoops, that's Steven King.

[horatio]

Originally Posted by mmoore

Nope, nope, and nope. Kirk's wearing a red uniform in the shuttle pic with McCoy. The instructor and cadet uniforms have long pants, the bridge pic has short or tucked legs. I'm betting the academy pic is graduation day. The black shirt is, IMO, away mission dress. Just because you haven't seen it yet doesn't mean there wasn't a jacket to go over the shirt.

Overanalyzing stuff again, people. Seeing things that aren't there. Wishful thinking. Needful things. Whoops, that's Steven King.

Interesting point. But then Kirk went alone on an away mission or at least only with redshirts (or blackshirts now ), none of the other six have the black aways mission dress. And having time to change uniforms but then forgeting the jacket seems unlikely.

I still wonder why no one picked on Kirk fighting with Sulu and Spock in the context of the black shirt. Renegade Kirk seems to me the most likely explanation. You don't choke the captain without ending up in the brig, unless he is not officially captain.

[MonsieurHood]

I know what he's talking about in TOS. Sometimes kirk would wear a "wrap-around" shirt that was almost more of a green-gold than straight gold. His delta insignia was at the bottom on the part that wrapped around. Armies, Navies, Air Forces and Marines, do have what they call "Uniform of the day". In the Navy, they used to have a really fancy set of dress whites for formality and inspection, and a set of work whites that looked similar, but without all the fancy piping. At one time, they had blues the same way. Albiet, that was for enlisted men, but cheifs and officers had khaki uniforms they would wear during normal duty as well. Nobody exept Yoemen, Postal Clerks and Chaplain's assistants worked in dress uniform. They were strictly for formal occasions, parades and inspection. I'm guessing that Kirks green "wrap-around" shirt was an alternate type uniform such as this. Not as formal as full dress, and yet a bit more formal than standard ship-board work uniforms.

[horatio]

I always considered the green tunic to be pretty casual wear.
I don't think a black shirt is anyhow more formal or casual.

[mmoore]

Originally Posted by horatio

Interesting point. But then Kirk went alone on an away mission or at least only with redshirts (or blackshirts now ), none of the other six have the black aways mission dress. And having time to change uniforms but then forgeting the jacket seems unlikely.

But I've seen Kirk climbing an ice wall out of a vehicle of some sort while wearing the black shirt. No others around, and the vehcle looks too small to carry more than one anyway.