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Esther ond Eli Are Dressmakers to Stars of Hollywood Stage

By TAIIAR tAHSlllGlAl{ Spcclal lo Altl

I started as a tailor's apprentice in Lebanon

I nearly 50 years ago and operated his own

Even though he is assisted by several , . .r. _ o, I tailors during full production, EIi would :smaKers to tne rtars

"You have to understand the meaning of

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Kirstie Alley, Kurt Russell, Valerie Bertinelli, Peter Falk, Lynn Redgrave, Leonard Nimoy... down the list of actors and actresses for whom Esther Tahanian has pattemed costumes and you would think she's an outspoken matron in her 50s who knows the bust or waist size of every celebrity in town. But Esther is a shy, talented 33-year-old who works quietly as the head draper of the Center Theatre

Grouo Costume Shoo in Los Anseles^

Group Costume Shop in Los Angeles, supplier of wardrobes for the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson and other theater and film productions nationwide.

The shop has only two full-time employees making costumes-Esther and Yeghia "Eli" Kodjayan, a 6l-year-old veteran in men's tailoring who has outfitted the likes of Charlton Heston and Burt Lancaster. Fantasy, peasant and costumes with an art form are Esther's realm, while traditional suits go to Eli, says CTG Costume Shop Director Toni Lovaglia.

Some days the pair work alone in a cavernous room the size of a hotel banquet hall, Esther at one end of the workroom and Eli at the other, with dozens of industrial sewing machines, mannequins, steam irons and large high tables in the middle. Esther works silently at her table constructing dress patterns or stitching special dresses that the shop will add to its huge inventory of 40,000 rental costumes. Across the room, Eli, a whitehaired, jowly amateur actor whose every punctuated heavy of or sighing, anwn he puts costume. making film, wardrobe each leaves it Esther the real free-lance whatever they're given tailor.

Itjust so happens that aside from Esther conversarion is punctualed by a heavy I lh::tilU',*t1"?il",li;,i"#:.ff":"i; dose of hand movements and a dash of I sewing, but a costume has its own life." humor, can be heard singing, or sighing, ] Eli can say that; he's been making cosor muttering amaaan, annn as he puts I tumes for the last 12 years. He joined together a suit or man's costume. I CTG in 1978 upon the suggestion of an When the shop is in full swing making I Armenian who was the shop's workroom costumes for a stage play or feature film, I supervisor at the time. In the ensuing years Esther and Bli are joined by a wardrobe I he produced men's costumes for such designerhe or she decides how each I plays as Zoot Suir, which premiered at costume will look and leaves it to Esther the Mark Taper and went on to Broadand Eli to translate sketches into the real ] way. A Christmas Carol at the Taper and thingand a small army of free-lance I Pygmalion at the Ahmanson. He left CTG stitchers, who sew whatever they're given Ifor several years in the mid-1980s to by the head draper and master tailor. I work with costume designers on an indeItjustsohappensthatasidefromEsther I pendent basis. Even though he's back at and Eli, many of the stitchers are Arme- | CTG, he continues to take on exffa tai- nian. But that's no coincidence, Lovaglia says. "The only stitchers I can rely on are Armenians. At that skill level, I'm really dependent and appreciative of them," she notes.

In addition, there's a certain work ethic that sets Armenian employees apart from the rest, Lovaglia says: "I find them very warm and loyal and eager to make it work for me. They make the workplace enjoyable."

So friendly is the workroom staff that when Esther got married nearly five years ago, a costume designer loring jobs. Yet, at 61, he often thinks of retiring, which makes Lovaglia worry because "there's nobody obvious in the ranks to take his place."

Lovaglia credits Esther's success to her training in Armenia as a commercial pattemmaker. That, combined with the fact that she's dam good at her craft have kept Esther in her job as CTG's head draper since 1982. Shows that she has worked on, to name a few, include the Ahmanson Theatre productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Les Liaisons Dangereuses, as well as Heidi Chronicles, which just ended its run at the Doolittle Theatre last December.

Esther came to work at the CTG Costume Shop thanks to her older sister, who had been a stitcher there for two months when Esther arrived in the United States in 1979. Three years later Esther had proven her skills to the point where she was hired as head draper.

Lovaglia says Esther is very creative: "We have actors who need to get on stage fast and who need to be able to move freely in a big, bulky period costume. Esther can handle those needs." Esther says, "They leave it to me to create a costume that's a quick change. Sometimes I build the padding and corset into the dress for quick removal. The difficult part is not letting all that show."

Indeed, Esther seems to know all the techniques, and what techniques she doesn't know she invents. For example, no matter how closely an expert seamstress sews the hem of a chiffon dress, it can still unravel. Esther's solution: sew the hem three times and cut the surplus as close to the stitches as possible. Tricks like that please designers so much that they sign their sketches to Esther with inscriptions like: "For Esther. Thank you for your genius. Laura."

That note was for a silk velvet gown that was difficult to drape because it was gathered at the small of the back with an omament. But Esther put some fabric on a mannequin and twisted and tugged at it until it hung with just the right folds. She also figured out where to hide the zipper, which was no small feat.

Esther yearns for that kind of challenge. Having to make a copy of a Marilyn Monroe dress for the rental department is, in her words, "boring." For a time she collaborated with a fashion designer and styled dresses for actresses on the side, but now with a husband and two young children she has only enough time for her CTG job.

Although they are based at the CTG Costume Shop, located about l0 minutes east of downtown Los Angeles, Esther and Eli sometimes go to the Mark Taper Forum or Ahmanson Theatre to take actors' measurements or to check the fit of garments they are making.

Occasionally, they even go to a star's home, but Esther and Eli don't say much except to talk about which stars are nice and which aren't so nice. And yet, although Esther keeps her eye to the needle, she does have a few stories to tell about temperamental stars. Once a wardrobe designer asked Esther to make a countrystyle scoop-neck blouse with a small slit and tie in the front for a certain actress. During a fitting session with the designer and Esther, the actress gave it one look in the mirror and ripped apart the blouse, saying, "It's not open enough." The designer's mouth dropped wide open, relates Esther, who didn't make a sound during the episode because it was the designer's decision to make the blouse that way. "She was the only actress to do that. Others discuss it with their designer," Esther says.

Ask Eli for a similar story, and he responds, Amaaaan, aman. I

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