History
United*American Costume Corp. was established in 1977 by legendary Costumer and Costume Designer, Luster Bayless. After working for almost 20 years in the industry, Luster wanted to form a company independent from the studios that would provide quality wardrobe for affordable prices and never lose sight of the notion that we as costumers are “filmmakers”.
The first project United*American Costume furnished the wardrobe for was “The Sacketts”; a Louis L’Amour story starring Sam Elliott, Tom Selleck and Jeff Osterhage. “The Sacketts” was a project that quickly established United*American Costume Corp. in the world of western filmmaking and helped pave the way for the company’s next major project, “Tom Horn”.
“Tom Horn”, starring Steve McQueen, was designed by Luster Bayless and it was the first time that an independent company furnished the entire wardrobe crew, costumes and guaranteed the wardrobe budget.
After “Tom Horn”, United*American Costume Corp. continued to provide wardrobe for various television and film projects dating from the 1750’s through the 1970’s. Everything from “The Thorn Birds” to “The Natural”, “Back to the Future” and “Hoffa”, United*American Costume was immediately recognized throughout the film industry in the 1980’s as a provider of the look needed to make a period project a wardrobe success. The next three decades have been filled with not only seeing our wardrobe in numerous film and television projects, but we continue to expand our inventory.
Today our collection has successfully grown to two commercial buildings and contains more than 70,000 square feet of wardrobe. Our complete civilian inventory from the 1750’s through the 1970’s contains head to toe characterizations for men, women and children. Additionally, our uniform division covers from 1750’s through present day and continues to grow with the ever changing service and military uniforms.
The company is now run by Diana Foster. She and the talented staff at United*American Costume Corp. continue Luster’s philosophy of providing quality wardrobe for various budgetary projects while never forgetting that the product we help put on the screen makes us successful filmmakers.