Company Cribs: Siam Costumes Part 3

Last and not least, we will be having a look at the third and final building of Siam Costumes. By now you should have a gist of what to expect,and  as promised we will have a look into our stock room unfortunately due to privacy policies we hold with our clients, we won't be showing you anything that we are working on currently. Shall we begin?

We shall skip the ground floor, as it's the other side of the workshop which I mostly covered on the last post. As we make our way to the second floor here is a brief sample of our zip stock, the reason why they are placed here is because these are the most commonly used zips, also if you notice we have Saddam Hussein looking over them for safe keeping.

Here is some of our tens of thousand buttons, bought from all over Asia mainly being Hong Kong. Almost every production we have worked on consist of at least one of these buttons.

Here is half of our military insignias, mainly consisting of Nazi WW2 insignias from Inglorious Basterds. As well as a load of braiding, and trimmings which comes in handy more often than not, especially for light entertainment productions.

Some more buttons and buckles, this half is made up of wooden and plastic buttons.

The firs room holds thousands of fabric samples , from stores all around Asia but once again mainly Hong Kong and China. Sorry about the mess I swear there was a time when it was all neatly organised, and those boxes ,yes you guessed correctly those are filled with hundreds more fabric samples.

The reason why we have a room dedicated to these store samples, is because before they were placed in boxes and Darryl tends to remind us " I hate having things in boxes, you just can never find what you are looking for" which is a fair point. Having the samples placed on the wall, in fabric categories I.e wools and Velvets…allows us and the clients to easily navigate our way through and find the suitable fabric.

Don't worry Its not what It looks like, Siam Costumes aren't secretly part of a racist cult. These are arm bands from which movie? Seabiscuit? Seriously thats your answer, I've already mentioned the film one or two times, "Inglorious Basterds".

Oops sorry to interrupt, didn't know this kind of party was going on up here. Ill leave you guys to it.

This room is packed with more fabric, mainly the heavy rolled ones. Also a lot of our light entertainment such as fabric used for Theme Parks, is later stored within this room.

Here is a collection of our unique ties, thats right i said unique, we have hundreds of plain black and white ties stored away in the cupboard. However these beautiful ties are very unique in each design.They have also previously been used in several 1930-50s productions.

Onto the last room of the tour, and what  room is more worthy of an encore than the stock room. This room is where we store a lot of our samples and prototypes of previous and upcoming productions.

You may remember this from a previous post. Its The Hollywood Letter characters from Universal Studios Singapore, Hollywood dreams parade.

One of our several prototypes from Tarantino's classic remake Inglorious Basterds.

A prototype from an upcoming WW2 production, so remember where you saw it first.

A sample from Opera Australia Carmen.

Any super hero fans? You may recognise this costume although the scenes they were worn in were very dark for obvious dramatic reasons, they are the vest's that the ninjas wore in this years The Wolverine.

The curtains are closing, and I'm afraid this is the official end of the tour. It was pleasure showing you around and giving you an insight into our workshop but I'm afraid we have a lot of work to get on with. Thank you and Good Bye.

At least some one is pleased to be leaving the workshop.

Company Cribs: Siam Costumes Part 2

Your back already!? This time we shall venture into the second building and have a look at the workshop , a collection of rare authentic fabrics along with other hidden gems.

As you can see our workshop is split into two sides, as most of the time we will be working on several productions at once. This way it makes it a lot easier to oversee our work.

If you look closely you may notice the black and white striped fabric. Any ideas ,apart from prisoners and robbers who can be seen in a black and white striped clothes? No luck, how about that quirky fella Beetlejuice.

So that’s the ground floor where all the magic happens, let’s make our way upstairs and see what we can find.

I can see Michael in our second pattern cutting room , let’s go and have a look and see what he’s up to.

We finally found Sebastian, call off the search and rescue team and Michael Sloanwho I mentioned in a previous blog, I won’t hesitate to describe him as one of the best pattern cutters in America. Young grasshopper Sebastian is lucky to be able to have michael teach him few tips about pattern cutting. I best leave them to it.

This room is very popular among costume designers, in fact any one who works within the costume industry. It would be rude not to step inside.

We call this, the room of natural beauty, I’m joking its referred to the northern room. This authentic library of fabric has been stocking up for over the past 10-15 years from northern Thailand, Laos, Burma and Cambodia.

I once had the pleasure of going up to a small town in northern Thailand asDarryl was visiting some factories to buy some cotton, whilst he was looking through the mountains of fabric he told me when he goes to these factories he feels like a little kid in a sweet store, he also said that his wife hates him going up here as he can’t help but buy “too much” fabric although when he sees an unusual fabric he is already thinking of which type of film or stage production it could be used on.

Thats enough of that, up to the last floor of this building.

At the top of the stairs, you are greeted by draws and draws of files, here is an example of some. We don’t just store everything on the computers as its not practical at times when we need to refer back to styles, patterns etc. See if you can notice any previous productions.

Not one of the most popular rooms of the building, but never the less one of the most important. Here is another library this time of previous patterns from many different productions, this is useful as sometimes costumes will repeat itself especially suits, shirts, etc so it saves a lot of time rather than having to construct a new pattern each time.

And once again we have come to an end, for now. Next time we will be showing you around the 3rd and final building, where you will get to see our notorious stock room, our fabric sample room and others you will just have to wait and see, until next time.

Company Cribs: Siam Costumes Part 1

Today I shall be showing you around our Workshop/Office, Whether its the thousands upon thousands yards of fabric, the highly trained Siam little helpers or the memorable costumes, from Inglorious basterds to Captain America, we will be taking you behind the closed curtains

Come on in let me show you around the first of three of our buildings.

It is here where we hold an extensive collection of shirting, suiting, linen, lining, satin and interfacing. Who Knows when you will see them again perhaps on the big screen, on stage, in an exhibition, on a cruise ship or in a theme park. The possibilities are endless.

No wonder why some times designers feel spoilt for choice. Thats enough of the ground floor, follow me up the stairs.

It is here where you can find two of the pattern cutters, Arif and Rampai. Lets have quick sneak peak.

Arif's busy as usual constructing patterns, he's working on the latest order from Universal Studios Singapore. 

Rampai who has been taking under the wing of Arif for over a year now. Happy as always to see us.

As we make our way to the third floor, good to see Darryl's private security, Basil guarding the fort.

Few samples of our Boots and Shoes

Alex has been expecting us, He's one of our young Admin/Sales advisors. Sebastian is not at his desk but perhaps we will find him lurking around in one of the other buildings in a moment.

Now we come to the kings chambers, where Darryl is busy working, we can see he has some fabric samples laid out on his desk for another production in the pipeline, which i will keep you posted on. Best leave him to it. 

That is all for the first building. Next time I shall show you the workshop where The Siam's little helpers work, Our impressive Northen Thai, Burma, Laos, Cambodian cotton fabric collection as well a whole lot of costumes amongst other sneak peaks. 

The Long way Round

Yesterday morning I caught up with the founder and owner of Siam Costumes: Darryl Kent-Morris, I wanted to find out where it all began, Why he chose this sector of the industry and how he got to where he is now.

1. Who would you say are your main customers?

“Well you see our client base, it fall’s into two main areas that being corporate, and entertainment. However more often than not, they crossover to one another, but we try to differentiate between the two. On the corporate side it is The Cameron MacintoshTheatre Group and  Merlin Entertainment. Most people wouldnt know who they both are but Cameron Macintosh is most probably one of the world’s biggest musical producers , owning the rights for hit musicals such as Cats, Les Miserables, and Phantom of the Opera, which just happens to be 3 of the longest running musical stage productions ever. Merlin owns Seaworld, Legoland and Madam Tussaud’s plus a whole  host of other theme park type venues, and it is recognised as the second largest entertainment company after Disney . On the entertainment side Andrew Llyod Webber’s Really Useful Group has to be up there along with HBO and BBC“.

2. When did you first realise that you had a passion for clothes?

“Ever since I was young child I’ve always had a love for history, most people don’t realise that one of the key element of our pasts was what people wore, and unlike now it was usually for practical reasons such as riding a horse and what fabric and dyes were available. Therefore getting involved in costumes was a natural progression”.

3. What inspired you to start your own business in the manufacturing sector rather than work your way up in an established company?

“I never really wanted to work for someone and I have done everything possible to avoid it. One of my first businesses I ever had was a landscape gardening company, which I still love above all else. I do enjoy the freedom and flexibility I have working for myself, and resting something from nothing but like everything it also has its disadvantages”.

4. Have you always shown an interest to costumes within the entertainment industry?

“Yes one of the first films I saw and took as much interest in the costumes as the plot, was Sergio Leone‘s “Once upon a time in America”  and the costume designer wasGabriella Pescucci and who is still one of my favourite costume designers”.

5. What was the greatest moment so far for Siam Costumes?

“When I took the big step of manufacturing internally rather than externally. So being able to produce all of our work in-house, and for the first time we were able to oversee our work entirely from start to finish, plus gives the added bonus  of continuously improving our employees skills”.

6. What made you take the leap from tailoring for members of the public to manufacturing for the entertainment industry?

“The Commercial reason is that the rewards are greater, primarily as I said being based in Bangkok I am unable to visit clients personally. The general public also don’t know what they require, so therefore need our involvement a lot of the time. Unlike designers, but being based where we are it is impossible for us to visit every client each and every time they want a new garment. Not to mention that the public obviously don’t require historical garment’s to be made, which for me is one of the most important factors of why I’ve chosen to do what I am doing”.

7. Where would you like to see Siam Costumes within the next 10 years?

“I would like to see my two sons taking over the day to day running of the business, plus at least one more workshop opening in South-East Asia, which could happen soon so watch this space”.

8. Having worked within the Industry for as long as you have, Is there anything that still surprises you?

“Thats a good question, I could say the time someone who I won’t name threatened to have me “whacked” by a combination of the Russian Mafia, half a dozen of his East-European henchmen and an ex C.I.A agent for good measure,but we don’t need to go into that. I would say the ability of individuals that have worked for us to exceed my expectations. When ever I look back of what we have produced in the past 30 years I am always surprised and elated on how far we have progressed and achieved”.

9. What are the advantages of working in Thailand?

“Because of the history of the tourist trade there is a ready pool of skilled labour, who if given time and careful instruction can learn  to meet the perfection that Broadway and Hollywood demand. Lest we forget the climate, that beats hands down the English weather, the fantastic cuisine, the general ambiance of the place Thailand for all intents and purposes is safe. Last but not least South-East Asia is part of the world’s eppi centre for fabric and ancillary items which enables us make our clientele’s  work far more interesting”.

10.  Which production that you have worked on, have you found the most interesting from a costume perspective and why?

“Most probably Winters Tale last year, because it took the required competence of our staff to a whole new level and from a personal interest the beginning of the 20th century is still my favourite period of men’s clothing”.

11. If you had to do it all over again is there anything that you would do differently from a business persecutive?

“Yes I would like to have completed a men’s tailoring course. I truly believe my weakest point is that I am not a tailor and like anything in life its important to lead by example, although there again the last 30 years have been extremely interesting, and lets be honest does the Chairman of General Motors know how to ensemble an engine? most probably not but does he really need to”