got the freelance job of designing and drafting all the gold bullion embroidery patterns for the new movie about the Alamo through a referral by the Motion Picture Costume Company to the costume designer Daniel Orlandi. I was already known there for my work drafting embroidery patterns for a previous movie, "One Man's Hero" with Tom Berringer.

met with Daniel very early in the pre-production period to discuss how to create the luxurious gold encrusted uniforms for Santa Anna and his general staff. His assistant designer had already assembled for me a complete set of their impressive research photos including many showing Santa Anna's personal artifacts. The look of Mexican military uniforms at this time was heavily influenced by French Napoleonic uniforms and in fact much of their gear and dress was old French surplus. At a glance, Mexican generals uniforms are similar to French generals but they had their own distinctive embroidery motifs reflecting native desert flora such as palm fronds.

had two criteria to fill regarding designing patterns for movie costumes: First, the embroidery had to identify, to the audience, the hierarchy of Santa Anna's team. His embroidery had to be bolder, thicker and wider than his subordinates whose embroidery was thinner by comparison. This follows the French tradition of distinguishing between Marshals and Generals of Brigade. Secondly, since there was no casting at this early stage in the game we had to prepare to get a leading actor who could be ANY size. Our solution was to draft two sizes of each pattern piece: 40-42 and 44-46. That way, we would be prepared to fit any actor between size 40 and 46.

fter I completed my part of the job, the next step was to send our patterns and fabric to Pakistan for embroidery. The region of Sailkot is world famous for hand-work companies that specialize in bullion military style embroidery. We had the work done there and sent back as finished panels which were made into collars, cuffs, lapels, etc. by C & J Tailoring in North Hollywood, CA (Mr. O) who also made the rest of the uniforms.