Dancing With the Stars costume designer Daniela Gschwendtner gave a glimpse behind the scenes of what it’s like to create countless ballroom ensembles.
Gschwendtner appeared on the Friday, November 28, episode of Danielle Fishel’s “Danielle With the Stars” podcast. Gschwendtner also designed the costumes for Charmed before she joined the ballroom. During the chat, the Emmy-nominated designer shared how she started as a stylist before becoming one of the dancing competition show’s lead costume makers in 2009. (Gschwendtner and Steven Norman Lee are DWTS’ current head designers.)
“I always wanted to be in fashion, and I always was drawn to that. I went to school for it. I got a Fashion Design and Merchandising degree, which really means not that much, but you get in the real world,” she said. “But I actually started as a stylist, and, one day, I decided I wanted to know more than just purchasing clothes. I wanted to actually know how to create them, and I was lucky. I ended up on shows that allowed me to learn that. And then I landed here with no dance experience whatsoever.”
Keep scrolling for all the DWTS costume secrets Gschwendtner revealed:
Daniela Gschwendtner Was Warned Joining ‘DWTS’ Was ‘Career Suicide’
After finishing up a job in New Mexico, Gschwendtner was searching for her next project. She reconnected with Norman Lee, whom she worked with on the set of Charmed, who told her about a gig available on DWTS.
“I left town for New Mexico and did a show there for three and a half years. And then I came back, and I was like, ‘I need a job.’ And he was like, ‘Well, it’s not a design job.’ I actually started as a key on this show, which was not [what] I had been designing for,” she recalled. “I don’t know how many years, probably eight years at that point, but I had lost sort of my contacts here in town, and everybody was telling me I was committing career suicide, because you don’t go backwards in Hollywood.”
While Gschwendtner’s initial job on DWTS wasn’t as a designer, she rose up the ranks when the series needed one.
“It happened that they needed a designer for the Tuesday show. And here it was, and they’re like, ‘You’re a designer. Design it.’ And then eventually I became part of the girls’ designing [team],” she shared.
The Sparkles Are Handcrafted
Gschwendtner revealed that “every single” rhinestone on a costume is done “by hand.” While it may seem like a daunting task, the designer shared that she and her team have mastered the technique.
“We have gotten pretty good at it, you know? We have a system. … We use glue syringes on our girls. So again, as something you do a lot, you get very good and fast,” she said. “Obviously [the women’s glittery costumes are] a big element of the show, which is why we have to push the girls through early.”
Gschwendtner explained that before they start the rhinestone processes, the dancers and stars try on a “shell” before they get their finished look.
“As you know, when you come for your first fitting, things don’t look all that great yet; they’re just about to get a shell on you, to make sure we have a guideline, because we need at the back end so much time to rhinestone it so it does look beautiful,” she recalled. “That is what takes our costumes, then out of, like, the ordinary, into the spectacular. It’s the stones.”
‘DWTS’ Designers Make ‘Over 200 Costumes’ a Week
Gschwendtner revealed that her team makes “over 200 costumes” for “just one week” of the show. Not only does this include the competitors and their partners but also the troupe and any other special performances that may be coming up.
Which ‘DWTS’ Pro Is the Most Hands-On With Costumes?
Gschwendtner shared that out of all the pros, Derek Hough, Mark Ballas and Val Chmerkovskiy are “very involved” in the costume process but sometimes “it depends.”
“I try to have a dialogue with everybody before. I never like to do a costume for a celebrity woman, for example, without checking with the pro boy what’s right for their dance, because there’s so many skirt styles. For the girls, the biggest part is the skirt style,” she said. “Am I doing the right thing for your choreography, for your story, for what you want to express, if I give you a soft, flowy skirt and you want edgy.”
Gschwendtner added that it’s very important for her to get some insight from the pros before she starts the design process to ensure the look she makes is functional.
“I hope a lot of them trust me now that I know what’s right, for their celebrity, for their body,” she explained. “We’re trying to make them understand, we’re working with a person, and they have to like it themselves, and they have to look good in it, and their body has to look good in it.”
Where Do the ‘DWTS’ Costumes Go After the Season?
After the show ends, Gschwendtner admitted that “most” of the looks are saved and put in a “storage area.” Sometimes the outfits get reused and revamped for another performance.
“With all these team dances, group dances, we can bring things back and modify them and give them a new life,” she explained. “It would be a shame these costumes are so time-consuming, so expensive to make, it would be horrible to just get rid of them.”
Gschwendtner added that the looks do go with the pros on the Dancing With the Stars Tour too.
