Custom Fit

Curiosity, Costumes, and Skull Caps

As I make my way into the workspace of Lindsey Cunningham, I can’t help but notice the massive chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, adorned with headdresses like a chorus line frozen in a picture. Lindsey is a friendly, southern gentleman whose stories meander like the rivers of his native Tennessee.

Tim Dery: How did you get into making headdresses?

Lindsey Cunningham: Well, when I was little I’d go to the Ringling Brothers Circus. I liked all the shiny stuff, and the feathers, and I’d look at the girls and go “How’s that great big thing stay on their head?”, since it looked like just a small piece of fabric. They had these great big huge headdresses and I’d just wonder “How are they doing that? What’s it made of?”

When I was older they opened Opryland, which is a theme park that specialized in shows. I started going there and seeing the shows. They would occasionally do one with more theatrical stuff, headpieces and costumes. When I was sixteen, I got a job there. After high school, I became a dresser for their shows.

TD: Wasn’t Opryland just country music?

LC: No, it was all kinds of shows. The Grand Ole Opry is why everyone thinks it’s just country music. The big one was “I hear America Singing” – all kinds of music, over 250 songs in a 55-minute show! It was a big production number, with lots of costume changes. Nine men and nine women would sing and dance, and there was a full band. The fewest number of costume changes was 13, and some of the performers had as many as 17!

TD: How did they manage all those changes?

LC: That’s where the director was a genius. They’d start the number, sing half a line, and the first person would leave to change costumes. They’d sing another half of a line, then the next person would leave. The people on the stage would start walking around and moving, so you’d lose track of how many people had gone backstage. When the song was done, half the people would be gone and you wouldn’t realize it. They’d get into the real start of the show, the opening number, and everyone would run out on stage in different costumes and you’d be surprised! “Where’d they all come from? How many people are in this show?!”

I was one of two dressers that worked that show. We did seven shows a day, from 10 AM to 10 PM. We had two casts, a morning cast that did the first half of the day, and a night cast that did the second half of the day. Once the show started, you never stopped. Even in the audience, the show would end and you’d say, “The show’s over? But it just started!” It felt like a 20-minute show, since there were so many changes.

TD: For those shows, would the director come in and say, “We want costumes that look like this”, or did they give you more leeway?

LC: It really depended on the director. Some would say, “Here’s the time period and the theme I want, go do it.” Others give you all that, then tell you “I want her in a long green dress”, or “I want him in a blue suit”. I’ve worked for other designers that wanted to approve every step – they give you a sketch, then they want to approve the pattern, then they want you to make a frame, then they want to approve that. Still others would say “Here’s the sketch, see you when it’s done. Bye!” And you get everything in between.

TD: How did you start making the skullcaps?

LC: I was working a Las Vegas-style show that was playing in Atlantic City. They were buying cheap skullcaps for $2 or $3; they were really big, lumpy, and round rather than head-shaped. They were single ply, made of buckram, sort of like a big bowl. There was a piece of floating wire around the edge that was really uncomfortable. They would buy them, then we’d buy more buckram and make them nicer, more comfortable.

Eventually, I said, “I think I can make them better than this”.

TD: When was that?

LC: After the first show I did! I’d done other shows where they had bought good skullcaps, so I knew there were better ones out there. I knew I could do better. They weren’t as good as the ones I’m doing now, but still way better.

TD: And you had to custom fit all of them?

LC: Yeah, we did. They would rehearse the show in Sanford [Florida], then they’d come see us and we’d fit them, and by the time the show was ready to go live in Atlantic City everything was fit, altered, and done.

After that, I started looking for more customers on my own. I had five or six standard shapes, so I was able to carry some inventory. I did some mailers and I started to get small orders, like from costume shops. A big order was maybe 6 of them. People loved them, so I was getting some orders from word of mouth. I went from filling a costume shop order of one or two, to dinner theater with a few more, then community theater groups, that kind of thing.

TD: Do you have any really memorable customers from those days?

LC: Yeah, the first time I got really excited, I got a call from Ringling Brothers! For me, that was the moment when I said, “OK, I’ve hit the big time!” The order came from a milliner that was making the headpieces for a bunch of clowns. When the show came to Orlando, I went and saw the show and said, “Those are my headpieces!”

TD: For work, were you just making the skullcaps at that point?

LC: Oh no – I worked at Seaworld and another theme park that isn’t around any more. I worked for America’s Health Network that filmed on the Universal lot; that was fun. I did some movie work and some TV work, window dressings and things like that. It was all word of mouth. For example, my friend worked as a set designer on a short-lived show called “The Fortune Hunter” that had been a mid-season replacement for something that got canceled. They needed help making the sets, so my friend brought me on. I did some sort of sewing or set decorating for each show they did. Sometimes it was sewing pillows, or set decoration, hanging curtains, things like that. There was one scene that was supposed to be in a hotel room. They had us go to one of the restaurants in the theme park, at Universal, and convert one of the private rooms into a hotel room. Later when I watched the show, I said “I know where that is!”

TD: What brought you to Seattle?

LC: My sister lived out here, and I’d visited a few times. I came to Seattle six times, at all different times of the year. The last time I came it was around Christmas, and I was here for a week. It snowed four times in that week! But it was never bitter cold. It was huge flakes of snow, but it wasn’t all that cold. I said, “I’ve gotta move here, because it’s snowing and it’s not that cold.” Even in Orlando, it would get down to five degrees! When I first went to Orlando, I didn’t take any winter clothing! I had only been there in the summer, when it was so hot and humid. I didn’t have a jacket or long johns or anything! For one of the jobs, I had to be on site at 6 in the morning, so I had to leave at 5 AM when it was six degrees outside. I had to drive 21 miles, and my car had no heat! I called my mom in Nashville and said, “Please send me jacket or a windbreaker or anything I’m freezing!” It gets colder than it ever gets here. That’s why I like it here, it doesn’t get too hot or too cold.

TD: How do you like the live/work model here?

LC: I’ve always loved to live and work in the same place. My commute is 10 seconds, and I don’t have to dress for work! When I first moved to Seattle, I really wanted a loft. The problem was I was only really familiar with Capitol Hill. There’s no lofts up there! If they exist, people just don’t move out. I was looking for studios, and only found one in Pioneer Square. I wasn’t familiar with the area, so I didn’t take it.

TD: How do you feel about the building itself?

LC: I like it here, it’s a big space, high ceilings. I can hang things, decorate it like I want. In some of the lofts, people live there first and have a corner or a section for their art. Some art doesn’t take as much space as others. With my work, I have to have sewing machines and cutting tables and dress forms and supplies, and it’s all got to go somewhere. It’s something like 80% of my space is for business, and 20% for my living area.

TD: Do you have a lot of customers coming to your space?

LC: No, it’s not really conducive to walk-in customers. The people that are coming here know me and know why they are coming. They are coming for a fitting, or I’m making something for them, or they want to buy materials. They get in touch with me through my website and set up an appointment. A lot of the burlesque girls in town buy feathers or trims from me. It’s all word of mouth, too; one found me then it grew.

TD: Is it just you making the skullcaps?

LC: I have a couple of people I can call if the order is really big or I have a short deadline. For the last couple of years, I’ve been working with Multi-Service Center that helps high-school aged teens. I don’t want to say “troubled” teens, but it’s kids that maybe don’t get the support they need from home, that sort of thing. In the summertime, they find jobs for the kids where they can learn a trade. I’ve had a couple of girls come and help for the summer. The way the program works, I don’t pay them, they are paid by the company that helps place them, through sponsorships and funding.

TD: That sounds like a pretty good deal!

LC: Yeah, the only bad part for me is that they’d want to work certain hours certain days, so I’d have to be available and I’d have to get dressed those days! The girl last year helped me by marking and cutting out the patterns for the skullcaps – I was stocked full at the end of the summer!

TD: How often do you make a headpiece that isn’t part of an order? Do you ever just make one to make one?

LC: For me personally?

TD: Yeah, do you get to do that?

LC: Most of the headpieces I make get made then they are shipped out. If I think about it, I try to get a quick photo I can use for brochures or my mailer. I can’t always use the quick pictures I take, they may not come out great or don’t fit what I’m trying to do. Often customers don’t want me using what I’ve made for them in my publicity. Most of the pieces I have here I’ve made to show or have samples, take pictures for my mailer or my website. Then there’s Halloween, I’ll make these for my Halloween costumes.

TD: What sorts of shows have you done work on recently?

LC: Well, Cirque du Soleil wanted to order some of my caps. I told them I was going to be in Vegas, so we met up and they gave me the behind the scenes tour. They had made some headpieces where the skullcaps were made of plastic or rubber, so they were pretty heavy. They wanted to make them lighter, so they started using my skullcaps.

When I was in Vegas, I saw Bette Midler’s show. One of the costume shops said they used one of my skullcaps for some of the background dancers! My friend works on the show, and gave me the behind the scenes tour. I got to touch my favorite costume from the show!

TD: Is there something that you would like people to know about your work?

LC: When I first came to the building, the lofts were advertised as “Artist’s lofts”. I think what I do is art – I make it with my hands. To me, that’s no different than a painter or sculptor creating something with their hands. I work with cloth instead of clay or paint. I’d like for people that see a show, think beyond, “Oh they can sing and dance.” Look at the costumes and think someone had to come up with them, then someone had to design it, then someone had to figure out how to make them, then you need people to sew them. I’d really like people to think of costumes as an art form.

Lindsey Cunningham is an artist, creator and designer of costumes, headdresses and skull caps for his company, Spotlight Fashions. He lives and works at the Bemis Building.

‘ Art (of) Work‘ offers an intimate view into the artist’s world.

Photography provided by Matthew Sumi, a Seattle based photographer. He likes to take beautiful photographs and spend time with family & friends :