Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1546058
MOTIONPICTUREC O S T U M E R S .O R G 37 gets wet, a soldier may be miserable, but they will still be insulated. That's why most of these uniforms are made of wool. A World War I US Army trenchcoat is very heavy when it's dry; but it's got to weigh 20 pounds when it's wet plus all the equipment, and I always think to myself, I cannot believe these guys not only won the war wearing this stuff, but just wore it and lived in it, that's stunning to me. "Diana had all these costumes built to be period-accurate. Using the right fabric is critical." Gerber explains, "What I like to tell actors: What you wear changes the way you walk, the weight of the fabric changes your bearing, and walking a mile in a man's shoes, you know what it feels like to be a soldier, to carry their weight, to put on these heavy leather combat boots and walk in them, imagine marching in them for days, months at a time, imagine fighting for your life wearing them. Remember that hand-to-hand combat scene in Saving Private Ryan? The costume changes your character; it gives you character; it changes who you are. Wearing the uniform will help you become the character. An accurate costume is critical to an actor. It should be accurate. It has to be accurate." hen a Costume Designer reaches out to Gerber to assist in pulling for a show in town or shipping to a production on location, the first questions he asks are: who, what, where, and when? "When someone calls, they'll say, 'I need 50 Civil War uniforms,' I say that's great. Who, what, where, and when? Who wore it? What are they wearing? Are they at a dance? Are they picking up women, or are they geing shot at? Who are they shooting at? Are they geing shot at is a huge question. If they're geing shot at, you're wearing this uniform. If you're at a ball, you're wearing a dress uniform. I have to have a specific year, and the time of year also makes a huge difference. Winter versus summer is a big deal. Other than that, I'll take care of it. Tell me how many you need, and I'll have it ready for you. I'm great with deadlines." Gerber explains that when it comes to pulling these period costumes, "Uniform is a science." When pulling sizing for uniforms on principal actors and background actors, Gerber says, "Geing correct sizes is essential. Most of the time they never tell you the right size. Sometimes they just don't know, sometimes they give you waist size and lots of period clothing was worn differently, higher on the stomach for example. The original uniforms were much smaller. People were just smaller. They did not eat what we eat. Their food grows out of the ground, ours grows out of a lab," Gerber laughs, "I think it's the hormones, or God knows what is in our food supply now, but we're bigger people. An average size soldier in World War II had a 30-32 waist, maybe 34, these guys were not huge. You don't want a big soldier anyway; they eat more and take up more space. That's why you have height limits on pilots otherwise they can't fit in the cockpit. So these guys were smaller, but yes, you absolutely have to have the sizing. I'm a height and weight guy. How tall are they, and what is your weight? You give me that, and I'll figure it out." Period films and television are the majority of the production business that Gerber handles. "Revolutionary War is hot, Civil War is always hot, and it's what kept us in business, our period clothes and the quality of our clothes. My boss, Diana, is a very savvy business woman. She makes sure that we have the stock and that our doors are open, the lights are on, and United American Costume is busy." When discussing being able to dress large amounts of actors for a production, Gerber tells us that the stock for Civil War for the Union and Confederate Armies is something that is rented quite frequently and they have a large amount of costumes, from enlisted to officers. "Everything's nicely aged and all of it can be worn. I know if I look down the aisle, I can see all this stuff, I think I can do about 1,000 guys right now with the stock we have." As he points to one side of the aisle, he states, "This is the enlisted side, and this would be officers on this side, and the multiples. As he gives the tour down the aisles, he casually whips out information about the uniform variations across the decades, explaining a Union Infantry uniform jacket, "This is Civil War—this is the four buon, and then in 1872 they went to a five buon. There is always a phase in period clothing. As we move into the Cavalry section, he shows the jacket change and shows the corresponding uniform pants with the yellow stripe. "This is 1870s US Cavalry (also known from the American Frontier Wars). This yellow is for Cavalry, they wore yellow trim at this time and still do today. And yes, even back then, the guys hated wearing yellow." There are smaller sections he shows off that he seems particularly fond of, including the belts and buckles that match to their respective eras and a section of aged bandanas in assorted colors. "Everybody carries a bandana. Anybody who's ever been shot at in the history of the world has some sort of bandana. Whether to wipe sweat off your brow or in case of emergency, you can even filter coffee through it, but it's mostly needed for marching. Can you imagine how much dust gets kicked up when an army walks down a road? Today, the guys are wearing modern head squares, known as a keffiyeh, that were designed to keep cool in a desert. In Vietnam, the soldiers carried a green towel." A large part of the job is boxing and shipping costumes to productions filming in other states and countries. Gerber says, "This entire industry comes down to shipping. That's what I should have majored in in school. It is literally logistics. If you're on the East Coast and you ship a box back, say an E-crate, it's very expensive so a lot of times they'll send it back ground shipping, which will take anywhere from four to six days." He warns there are issues that can cause Loss & Damages (L&D) for productions, such as using the proper stage blood, "because some of the stuff doesn't come out" and W