What input did you have on the Ferengi costume?

The Ferengi civilian outfits were totally mine. The military outfits, that we saw a lot of on The Next Generation, were, again, the creation of Derinder Wood. There were a couple of opportunities within The Next Generation in which they could be in civilian clothes. And I took full advantage � one was beachwear, and I really did terrible, loud, funny comic beachwear.

When we moved to Deep Space 9, and the Ferengi became civilians, Michael Pillar and Rick Berman said, �Well, you can just take that image and go with it, go.� And so I did. I just took this idea of bad �fluence and bad taste, and how many things can you put together, and still have it look sort of visually interesting but not be so horrific that people think that you have no taste at all.

I think of it as Las Vegas really gone awry. Someone from the Mid-West who has a lot of money and has stuck a little Christian Laquoix and Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood together, and made their own idea of outfit.