Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1541330
28 WINTER 2026 the outfit. This all sounds very boring, but there's actually so much work that can go into that. Belts don't function in the same way. Generally, what's keeping everything together is the fact that it's all connected in some way. The belt actually did go through the belt loops on the shorts, and it closed at the back, so it didn't function from the front. We really needed to ensure sufficient adjustability because they didn't make the decision until the last minute about whether or not there were going to be shorts, which, if you're making a belt, and you think it's going to go on to, essentially, a suit, like a skin tight suit, and then all of a sudden, 'well, no, there might be shorts there,' that means it needs another inch or inch and a half; that's a huge difference. On a very thin person that needs to look muscular and is essentially wearing a body suit. You can't hide that much adjustability, so you're kind of waiting until the last minute to really make that belt fit. Some of the tricks are designing your piece in a way that if there's a last-minute change or decision right before the first one is established, you don't have to start from scratch. We've learned those tricks. How can we alter this belt by either leing it out or taking it super-fast, and geing the scene we need to do before we start making the multiples? I think we made at least seven. So that is what we want to be doing with those belts, because of how quickly we might need to work at the end and how much action there might be. JT: James' idea, since he took over DC, this is our first film, he wanted to basically introduce a new world. And key to that is Clark Kent, the Man of Steel. So, we had to find the perfect red, the perfect blue, the perfect yellow. We dyed maybe 50-60 versions of each of those colors. And then we would show them to James, show them to Judianna, discuss that with [an illustrator], and find the colors that we liked, that worked together, that also reflected the source material. But you also have fabric that is have no idea the amount of effort that went into making sure that the texture on the belt matches the texture on the outfit, and to make it look as if you haven't worked adjustability into these things. They either have a lile bit of elastic or a lile bit of give. There's a back closure, but it looks almost seamless, but where do I hide the adjustability? So, when this person is moving around, you don't have a gappy portion. If you pay aention to how your belt fits you, there's always a time where your belts are not really siing on your body very well. So, generally, we're working with the tailor shop to figure out where is this going to aach because you can't use snaps, snaps would pop whenever somebody moves. Sometimes there's lile bits or keepers that we're aaching to the actual outfit, and then also to the belt that then aaches and has a lile bit of give, a lile bit of movement up and down. But that doesn't always work. Sometimes, because of the nature of the outfit, you're hiding elastic behind a belt loop, but sometimes the belt loops are too narrow so you're hiding a lile bit of stretch in the closure at the back of (Top and above) There were over 300 pattern pieces developed for Ultraman costume; (left) Finished costume for Superman (2025).