The Golden Closet

[Godfather]

This link was posted in the Bazaar section but just thought it rocked and more people might see it here.

http://www.thegoldencloset.com/miva/mer ... Code=D0153

[chrismasonic]

i've always been under the impression that an english lady handmade all the vests...

why would it have an east gate made in korea label inside it?

[thegoldencloset]

I'm not sure how you got that impression but I think someone passed you wrong information. It might be possible that the Warriors costume designer (Bobbie Mannix, whom I've never met) was originally a U.K. resident, but if you look at her work record on the IMDB you'll see that most if not all the films she's worked on were produced and filmed in the U.S.

Individual costume designers rarely hand make all the garments used in a production. They might design and create a sample but then the production is either done in house or outsourced to seamstresses, tailoring houses, etc. Many times they just come up with a look for the characters using prefabricated garments or even purchase sets of store bought items and modify them (such as adding patches or other alterations) if they want a specific concept. Maybe the the designer custom ordered a set of vests from East Gate that had the look they wanted.

It saves them and the studios time and money. There may be exceptions when working on mega-budget period pieces or fantasy/sci-fi pictures where the characters wear things that don't even slightly resemble any cheaply available contemporary garments, but even then they have a team of people working on the costumes.

The Warriors was a Paramount film, and the wardrobe from the movie was their property, which they retained at the end of production. We acquired this vest directly from the Paramount Pictures Wardrobe Department and it has their stamps on the inside of the vest, as well as the initials PAR written inside as you can see in the photos. We also got Cochise's vest as part of the purchase and it also had the East Gate label, as I'm sure the rest of the Warriors vests did.

We were extremely lucky to find them. Most studio wardrobe inventory goes back into stock to be re-used on other films (which is why the original patches were removed from this vest). I recognized this one right away even without the patches because the Warriors is one of my all time favorite movies. My boss had never even seen the film and couldn't understand why I was so excited about it. I still wonder if there's any Electric Eliminators or Rogues jackets hiding in the back of their facilities somewhere...

So there's a little Costume Design 101 for you. I know it's a long explanation but it sounded like you might have thought this vest wasn't authentic, so I thought it was worth addressing. Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll be happy to answer them.

[chrismasonic]

sorry...in one of the extras on the dvd...it mentions an english woman handmaking all the patches for the vests...her name is rose clements

i re-watched it and i guess bobbi mannix must have made the vests themselves

a few things did concern me when i saw it though
this is advertised as a leather vest....the warriors vests were made from pleather...
the patch pictures wings are too diagonal...so the pic mustn't be an original patch
plato has never been mentioned as a character either in the book,script or movie...

it might well be an original vest but there is some mystery surrounding it for me...

[Ninth Delegate]

Hasnt cochise's vest been on Ebay at least twice in the past couple of years????  Im guessing the people who had these vest's in their private collection needed some extra cash.

I think this thread covers some familiar ground.  http://warriorsmovie.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=6614.15

There used to be pictures of the original vests belonging to swan and plato, on the main site back in the day.

And to chrismasonic:  one of your mysteries is solved.  As many members on here will tell you Plato is in the original script and got changed to rembrandt.

[thegoldencloset]

Hi Ninth Delegate! Thanks very much for the info about the name Plato being Rembrandt's original character name in the script! That cleared up a mystery for us (as well as Chrismasonic too!). If there's some sort of link to that information I'd be much obliged. The script download link on this site wasn't working for me today.

I also looked over some of the conversations on that thread link you posted. Very helpful and made me aware of a lot of misconceptions people have about screen used wardrobe! Some guy thought that it must be a fake since the patches were removed. The outline and stitch holes from the original patches are actually still visible on the back of this vest.

Regarding Chrismasonic's issues with the patches: I've taken down the picture of the patch to avoid confusion. The picture that was up on thegoldencloset.com was of the initial sample the embroidery company sent us and is not the patch that will be sold with or sewn onto the vest. The final patch set we have is perfect. Too perfect in fact, so we went to the extra length of having it distressed (artificially aged) to resemble how the patches look in the film. As soon as we can get a picture of the final patch set I will put it up and post another notice here so you can all take a look.

Chrismasonic was right about one thing however, the vest is pleather and not leather, and that was my mistake. I changed it in the description and owe him some thanks for pointing that out! Fabric expertise is not my strongest point and it felt and looked like leather to me!

I'd be happy to answer questions from any other interested members. Thanks again for the info and the interest. Great group here!

[Godfather]

According to Cochise- David Harris' myspace, he has his vest and whole out fit.  (as of Jan. 28, 2008)
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... =267509997

[thegoldencloset]

Thanks for the link. Action pictures often use multiples of key garments to ensure continuity between fight sequences, damage, etc...especially for characters that "bop" (I mean are involved in fight sequences) like Cochise did. Pretty cool to see he's up on MySpace! Someone from here should message him about the Conclave '09 idea and see what he thinks about it!

[Ninth Delegate]

Here's a couple of pics of east gate vests for you compare with.  The first belongs to cochise and was the one that was for sale last year.


The second is either swans or plato's (cant find the pic that has the label showing).
As far as i'm aware, neither of the patches are original, but were loosly copied from an original set.  The patch on this one looks more authentic IMO.

[Ninth Delegate]

Hi Ninth Delegate! Thanks very much for the info about the name Plato being Rembrandt's original character name in the script! That cleared up a mystery for us (as well as Chrismasonic too!). If there's some sort of link to that information I'd be much obliged. The script download link on this site wasn't working for me today.

I think this was the original post that mentioned the name change.  http://warriorsmovie.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=3537.0
Hope thats of some help.  Ive no idea why the script doesnt download.

[chrismasonic]

those are some handsome vests...

[Godfather]

Those are pretty cool.  The second picture looks like the armholes are cut differently. 

I know that people have brought up the fact that it might have been lighting or filters, but these vests seem lighter in color than in the movie and also the one Tom Hanks wears in an episode of Taxi.  http://youtube.com/watch?v=ACF4XDznGEs  Plus, in the production photos the vests look darker http://warriorsmovie.co.uk/index.php?op ... id=39  Hey T7 or thegoldencloset, any theories on this?

[Godfather]

Those are pretty cool.  The second picture looks like the armholes are cut differently. 

I know that people have brought up the fact that it might have been lighting or filters, but these vests seem lighter in color than in the movie and also the one Tom Hanks wears in an episode of Taxi.  http://youtube.com/watch?v=ACF4XDznGEs  Plus, in the production photos the vests look darker http://warriorsmovie.co.uk/index.php?op ... id=39  Hey T7 or thegoldencloset, any theories on this?

I meant ninthdelegate and thegoldencloset, but anyone else can chime in. 

Again, awsome vests!

[chrismasonic]

i can only hazzard a guess at why they look so light...
i think they must go darker when they are wet...
although i can't really see actors wearing a wet vest throughout production...
it's very possible

[Ninth Delegate]

I have no knowledge on how pleather reacts to artificial light.  I know the flash on my camera makes my tan vest appear darker and more red-ish.  Every picture ive seen of an original vest on its own, has always been the shade of tan that you see in the pics above.

In the Taxi clip, have a look around the 2minute 20 second mark, when Tom hanks stands and turns his back to the camera.  Is it just me, or does it appear to go slightly lighter and more orange.

And the armholes look different in the 2 pics because the lower pic is (I believe) a smaller size vest and the top picture is buttoned up and being worn.  If it was laid out flat, it would be more or less the same as the lower pics arm holes.