United American Costume Co.

30/08/2023

September’s front lobby display.

26/03/2022

May he continue to guide and watch over us all. R.I.P to our founder and mentor.

Celebrate the life of Luster Bayless, leave a kind word or memory and get funeral service information care of Eternal Valley Memorial Park Mortuary.

24/02/2022

Luster Bayless, the founder of United-American Costume Corporation, passed away Friday, February 11, 2022. Luster was a colleague, but most importantly he was a part of the CDG family.

The CDG honors Luster Bayless
By Christine Cover Ferro

Costume designer Luster Bayless was born into a sharecropper family in Ruleville, along the Mississippi Delta. Often spending hard days with his father in the fields to help make ends meet, a teenage Luster escaped to the movies whenever he could. His hero, of course, was John Wayne. After a stint in the Navy and playing football in junior college for a year, he knew he wanted a life beyond Ruleville. His childhood friend Jimmy George had already gone out to Hollywood to work at Western Costume Company and was able to get him an interview. Luster promptly hitchhiked to California and convinced the manager to hire him. Having assisted one of the costumers in prepping for the film McLintock! Luster was offered work as John Wayne’s costumer. This would be the beginning of a lifelong partnership, as well as a deep friendship. Among their projects together were True Grit, The Train Robbers, Cahill U.S. Marshall, and McQ. Luster credits Wayne and Walt Disney, with whom he worked for five years, with helping him establish his career.

In 1977 Luster had the idea to create a costume company independent of the movie studios. He gathered leftover wardrobe items after filming was complete, amassing a collection which began in his garage and ultimately was moved to a warehouse. The United-American Costume Corp. was born. Luster specialized in a 200-year span of American history, from 1770 to 1970, continually added to the collection from sources all over the United States while working as a costume designer. Presently, his daughter Diana Foster runs the company.

In the 1980s, Luster turned a dry goods store on Ruleville’s Ruby Street into the Hollywood Costume Museum. He hoped to put his hometown on the movie buff’s map. There he is able to display prized pieces too valuable to be in circulation, from Lonesome Dove to Django Unchained to items with sentimental value, like the rifle John Wayne gave him.

Luster was a pioneer in advocating the idea that costume designers are filmmakers. We are sorry for this loss to our community and send our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.

If you would like to celebrate his life please join Diana Foster

March 26 at 10:00 am
Eternal Valley Memorial Park
23287 Sierra Hwy, Newhall, CA 91321

01/02/2020

Watch for our clothes in this weekend’s Super Bowl commercial for Doritos.

The ranch just got cooler. Watch Lil Nas X and Sam Elliott reach for the sky and drop it down low in a winner-takes-all western showdown the world has never ...

20/08/2018

We have a vast collection in our library at United American. Stop by for some inspiration and from our library.

17/08/2018

Congratulations to all the Emmy nominees, and those who have pulled from the United American Collection.

Handmaids, robots, and royals ruled this morning’s Emmy nominees. HBO’s “Game of Thrones” led the pack with 22 nods, the most for any series. NBC’s “Saturday Nig…

16/08/2018

Another piece from the United American uniforms collection. With such a wide variety it can be hard sometimes to pick which ones to share! Come in and check out the whole collection for yourself.

13/08/2018

Cultivating the curiosities and creativity of the next generation are key to this industry.

A fascinating article on how a mentorship under acclaimed costume designer Reggie Ray and a chance encounter with Director Spike Lee birthed the career of costume designer Marci Rogers (“Blackkklamsman”, “Surviving Compton”, “No Peace, No Piece”)
http://ow.ly/Ei3V30lndDO

If you ask Marci Rodgers how she became a costume designer, her answer is simple: “God.”

11/08/2018

A year ago today we lost a beloved member of our United American Costume family. We miss you every day Tom Numbers.

10/08/2018

09/08/2018

"My thought was to do every job, work very hard and see where I end up with the hopes of rising to the top."

The stylist and costume designer Leesa Evans knows that fashion can be transformative because she sees it first-hand with her clientele. When Evans isn't on movie sets, she styles private clients and works on STYLEFUND, the organization she cofounded with actress and comedian Amy Schumer.