Western Roundup : With 12 Period Films in Development at Once, It’s Tough to Rustle Up Bustled Dresses and Such

The battered wool shawl edged with the subtle geometric print of an early Indian trader blanket is $35. Not a bad deal. And, best of all, it has a patched hole.

Judianna Makovsky snatches it up.

“We like things with holes for this movie, because everyone’s very poor,” says the costume designer for “The Quick and the Dead,” Sharon Stone’s upcoming Western. “So when we see things that are hand-darned or hand-patched we get very excited.”

But such finds were rare among the cleaned and pressed attic treasures on display recently at the Santa Monica Vintage Expo, one of the biggest shows of its kind and a draw for dealers throughout the West. With 12 Western films--TV and feature--in the works, costume crews have almost bought up the supply of mint-condition Victorian apparel.

Designers try to use the real thing on screen when possible, but some clothes are just too small, too fragile or unavailable in the numbers--duplicates or triplicates--that rough-and-tumble film action requires. In such cases, they piece together replicas with scraps of antique lace, salvaged collars and hand-carved buttons. Or original garments serve as prototypes for knockoffs.

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“To see in 3-D the way it’s cut, the intricacies of the way it’s sewn, is more valuable to us in terms of research than looking at books,” explains Robert Turturice, president of the Costume Designers Guild.

Makovsky, who is charged with dressing the residents of an 1870s border town for “The Quick and the Dead,” has no luck finding Mexican serapes or sombreros.

“There’s so many Westerns going on now everything’s used up,” she says. “Most of the clothes are going to be in dirt and mud. I’d almost rather make them than ruin beautiful antiques.”

Fashion designers’ current obsession with retro styles is another obstacle. “We’re trying to avoid using paisley shawls, because Ralph Lauren is doing his whole line in paisley,” Makovsky laments. “Even though it’s real period, when a contemporary designer uses it in his line, suddenly it looks modern.”

Assembling a wardrobe from pieces of the past requires not only an eye for authenticity but also an active imagination.

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“I was taught by one of the great designers, Enrico Sabatini, that what you do is, put yourself in the period,” says Diah Wymont, costume designer for a proposed TV Western, who also attended the expo.

“I will look at different dresses from that period and take the sleeves from one dress and the collar from another. The most important thing is to have an (authentic) silhouette.”

An early 1870s dress with layers of silk faille the color of a faded sienna-tinged photo looks like a perfect fit for Makovsky’s project. But it has an 18-inch waist--far too small for even a lithe Sharon Stone to squeeze into. “We look for ways to let them out,” she says. “You can open up the bodice and insert lace trim.”

But the costume designer wistfully passes it by and moves on to notions and accessories, the details that turn period reproductions into replicas of the past.

A bolt of silk fringe has ample yardage to trim all three versions of a linen duster for Stone that will be handmade and embroidered, then distressed and aged. If the trim’s a little short, Makovsky says, “We can leave a patch missing like it fell off and she replaced it herself.”

But nothing in the jewelry display is quite right for a stud on co-star Gene Hackman’s cravat.

“I like this winged creature with a pearl in its mouth,” suggests Sarah Edwards, Makovsky’s assistant.

“I think it’s a little too art nouveau for this period,” her boss responds.

A pair of antique linen pantaloons will work, though.

“The only other women in the town besides poor women and Sharon are prostitutes, so we’ll see underwear,” Makovsky explains. “They’re big and they do have a patch.”