Star Trek: 10 Secrets Of The Next Generation Uniforms

Recently referenced in Star Trek: Picard's first season finale (and originating in TNG's "The Battle"), the Picard Maneuver is canonically a tactical strategy wherein the captain used warp drive to fool an attacking Ferengi ship into believing there were two Federation vessels when there was only one. Behind-the-scenes, however, this phrase has an altogether different meaning.

According to Jonathan Frakes:

It's all because of those terrible one-piece spandex uniforms we wore for the first two seasons. Those things climbed up and bunched around your belly, so that nice clean line the uniforms were supposed to have was ruined. And the material stretched and shifted, so that you might look good standing up, but it was a different animal when you were sitting down.

To accommodate for said bunching, Patrick Stewart began to pointedly tug at his costume on set, making the necessary costume adjustment part of Jean-Luc Picard's dramatic mannerisms.

Even after the single-piece costumes were replaced with the jacket and trousers combo in season three, Stewart continued the habit, but for a different reason. Instead of straightening his costume as he did in seasons one and two, season three onward was all about keeping the short tailored jacket from riding up.