Daring to Be Different Has Uniform Appeal
F ifteen years ago, Carolyn Bishop Glosser took a gamble by leaving her job at Universal Studios and starting her own uniform company. Now she designs and makes uniforms for casinos, including Treasure Island in Las Vegas and the soon-to-open Silver Legacy in Reno.
While attending UCLA as a fashion design major, Glosser worked as a tour guide at Universal and became interested in their uniforms. She quit to launch her uniform supply business, Creative Apparel, Inc. in Balboa Island. Universal became one of her first accounts.
Besides casinos, she’s designed and contracted for the manufacture of uniforms, costumes and career apparel for Vons Grocery Co., Paramount Picture’s Nickelodeon attractions and Universal’s “The Flintstones” and “Back to the Future” attractions. Supplying the Silver Legacy, a 1,500 room hotel/casino, with 3,000 costumes is one of her biggest challenges.
This is another in a series of first-person columns that allow people connected to the fashion industry to talk about their encounters.
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The theme for the Silver Legacy is based on the American West at the turn of the century. The research needed to design the doorman uniform was based on Sears’ catalogues from the time. The doormen will have a mackintosh. The men working the front desk will wear morning coats with an ascot tie and pants, and the women will wear a Victorian-style blouse with a lace yoke, cummerbund and brocade skirt.
For my research, I visited the Newport Beach Public Library, the American Film Institute and Harbor Day School in Corona del Mar, where my daughter goes. They have two of the best books I found.
If I had to wear any one of the 80 different styles I designed with my colleague Katharine Gates for the Silver Legacy, it would be the cocktail uniform. It’s more of a maverick, Western theme.
It’s an off-the-shoulder with lace around the cuff and neckline and a gathered apron that looks like a bustle with a bloomer underneath. Another uniform I like is a baby doll look that was popular during that time: short petticoat with satin bows, dark stockings and lace-up boot.
On the “Flintstones” attraction, the client wanted the costumes to reflect the cartoon. I worked with a designer, and we manufactured the uniforms. We used Ultrasuede to give them the look and feel of cavemen wear.
We try to work out the adjustments prior to shipping so we don’t get headaches after the project goes in, but on a reorder, the client may suggest a longer hemline, bigger neckline or a change of fabrics. The clients get a sample of the uniform in advance of production, and they have an employee wear it to test it out. They wash test it to make sure it works.
Clients may suggest something like an expensive fabric that won’t fit within their budget, or they may want a fabric that is not conducive to everyday wear or tear--maybe a silk rather than polyester. We help them out and steer them away from the expensive brocades that cost $25 a yard.
