Inherited Characteristics from the TNG-era Admiral Jackets

The DS9/NEM admiral jacket, while a unique garment, was similar in style and construction to both its predecessor, the late TNG-style admiral jacket (seen from The Next Generation's sixth season through Deep Space Nine's sixth season and Voyager's fifth season), and its contemporary duty officer counterpart, the DS9/NEM "captain jacket."

It obviously inherited some of its characteristics from its predecessor: 

The DS9/NEM admiral jacket adopted the overall construction style from the preceding late TNG admiral jacket: a front-closing jacket via a hidden zipper underneath metallic gold piping with a yoke extending onto the sleeve, 2" sleeve stripes embellished on each edge with the same metallic gold piping as the front, and also being longer than their duty jacket counterparts with the panels separating around the waistline of the wearer. 

However, while the DS9/NEM admiral jacket was a natural evolution of the TNG-style into the new uniform era, it did diverge a bit; aside from the obvious color changes, note the deeper and quilted yoke, the rounded neckline in place of the TNG-style mandarin collar, the multiple body panels, and the addition of the black belt with the United Federation of Planets seal. 

Also note that, like its duty jacket counterpart, the TNG-style admiral jacket zipped DOWNWARD (that is, with the "bottom" of the zipper at the top of the jacket, which would close with a downward motion - the opposite of what one typically does when putting on a jacket), whereas the DS9/NEM-style admiral jacket zipped upward. 

The DS9/NEM admiral jacket also shared some traits with its duty counterpart, the DS9/NEM "captain jacket": 

Both were black, front-closing jackets, and each has a gray yoke quilted and topstitched in the same manner with gray bias trim along their lower edges. 

They both had the V-shaped front opening at the top of the chest characteristic of all the standard (non-formal) uniforms of the era, and the body consists of eight panels (four front, four back). 

Also, both were worn with the command berry (aka "red") division shirt underneath, with the open neckline sitting flush around the division shirt's collar.

Overall, the DS9/NEM admiral jacket was a fantastic addition to the DS9/NEM uniform family, being both a natural development of the late TNG-style admiral jacket and an appropriately similar counterpart to the DS9/NEM "captain jacket," while simultaneously being a unique garment in and of itself.

While perhaps a dozen or two various admirals were seen throughout the DS9/NEM era, by far the three most well-known were Admiral Ross from Deep Space Nine, Admiral Dougherty from Insurrection, and Admiral Paris from Voyager, so we will primarily be basing our observations on their uniform jackets. Exceptions, variations, deviations, etc. will be presented in our "Misc. Observations and Errors" section afterward. 

Now, onto an analysis of the garment itself!

NEXT: Analysis, part 1 - Yoke