Fitting In

In A Muppets Christmas Carol (it’s a fantastic film, I recommend it even if you’ve already seen it), Charles Dickens (who looks suspiciously like the Great Gonzo) claims he knows the entirety of A Christmas Carol “like the back of his hand.” Rizzo the Rat asks him to prove it. Holding out his hand and turning away so he can’t see it, Mr. Dickens then describes the back of his hand as Rizzo examines. Shaking himself, Rizzo makes his meaning clearer, “Don’t tell us your hand, tell us the story.”

The space in my mind is used up for other things, and I’d be far pressed to identify the back of my own hand if anyone put them in a photo lineup with similar ones. But there are certain things about my build and aspects of my body which I have become informed about. These details assist in adding to my wardrobe in the categories of both what is comfortable and what fits. For example, I once had a pair of shoes that seemed much too wide, no matter how I tightened the laces. I learned then there were “wide” shoes and me with my narrow feet would never need them.

When I got measured to know the proper jacket size, I learned my chest measurement. When I got properly fitting dress shirts, I came to know my sleeve length. Certain lengths of socks go with different outfits, brown usually goes with brown, blue, and grey. What collar type and necktie knot go best with my face shape? What glasses fit my aesthetic? All these questions took trial and error. In the case of finding out my proper measurements or shoe size, having an expert salesman there would have sped up the process. As for preference (neckties and collar shape), those things may take a bit more trial and error.

What You Wear

I don’t think there is a single one of us who wears their Santa suit 24/7. The seasons and changing weather (along with sanity) prevent this. Even Santa Claus doesn’t wear his suit all the time. When he’s relaxing by the fire, when he’s mucking the reindeer stalls, when he’s baking, when he’s fixing the sleigh, when he’s present wrapping or checking the list- all of these activities would require different and appropriate wardrobe.

It used to be extremely uncommon to see Santa in anything but a red suit. Performers now have alternative looks and outfits which provide spectators with a window into a realistic North Pole wardrobe.

These different outfits worsen a problem I’ve experienced and witnessed since being a Santa Claus: properly fitting clothes. Santas will continue to look out of place unless the clothes they wear fit perfectly. As if they were made for them.

The problem starts with the thought, “Well, if Santa wears this a lot, it should look like it was made for his body!” and yet baggy suits, too short sleeves, and hats that fall well over the ears are commonplace. Off the rack suits weren’t made to fit just one person, but a plethora. That would explain why some parts are baggy and some parts are short. These suits are better than nothing when starting out, but Santa’s suit should fit him much better than an off-the-rack suit since he wears it a lot (even if not every day), so why is his belt falling below his belly? Why is the fur pink? Why does the man look separate from the clothing? Where is the fit and quality?

The truth of the matter is that not every Santa performer can afford a personal tailor. And just like photographers don’t have the same eye as Santas (in looking out for many of the minute details we do), a tailor wouldn’t have quick success altering a Santa suit to fit without a guided eye. Not many people wear Santa suits, and it would be unusual for a tailor to know where belt loops should be placed and all the other quirky details that come with this garb. Even in the community (ah yes, the Christmas performer community) I still see suits that are well made, but not made for the body of the person wearing them. Belt loops are too high, too low, sleeves too long, jackets too baggy, hats too big, etc.

Even if one were to go and get a “custom” suit (one not off the rack in a general size) or a “bespoke” suit (made to your measurements specifically). There is no guarantee that it’ll look fantastic. I once had a bespoke suit made to my measurements, and though I tried to love it, the style and fit weren’t for me. It didn’t look like it was built for me.

Since moving away from my early Amazon and eBay suits, I have done my best to sew my own. Nothing is more frustrating than trying on a coat, pinning the beltloops on, and then finding out nothing is where it should be once stitching is done and you try it back on. I am both the tailor and dummy for my suits. Most of the time I just feel like a dummy.

Making the Most of It

Even those who can’t make their own suits can alter cheaper suits to make them fit better. Relocating the beltloops is the #1 thing I advocate for, taking in the sides on the seams also helps Santa’s “hourglass figure.” Everyone’s belly is different, moving those belt loops can help keep that belt where it needs to be. Measuring and altering can get more difficult when we get into false bellies for us thinner fellas. (To stay true to the legends and traditional image of Santa a belly is needed.) If the suit doesn’t fit right and the belly doesn’t look realistic, it can detract from the experience and break the illusion.

In The Santa Clause films the fat suit and prosthetics are fantastic. The traditional (false) beard looks great, and Tim Allen realistically looks like he gained weight for the part. The quality of the costuming and prosthetics in the film outshine the poor attempt in the Disney Plus series “The Santa Clauses” where Santa’s beard looks constantly wet and uncombed and instead of a rotund belly, Santa’s wearing football pads under his shirt. The effects in the films look more believable, realistic, and genuine. The films preserve the illusion.

Fitting clothes is something we all deal with, whether in or out of performing (and we need to focus on our performing clothes too!). A small percentage of us wear theatrical (false) lace-backed beards. I’d like to share a bit of how I make my set (and it’s not a custom one, mind you, it’s “off-the-rack”) work to my advantage.

As a skinnier guy myself, I need a wig to cover up my not-so-thick neck to sell the idea that I’m much bigger than I am. This became apparent after my second season. For my first three seasons I bleached my hair and eyebrows white (that’s where I gained my bleaching education), usually doing up to 4 bleachings in one night. Once I got a yak wig, all I did was make sure it covered my neck; that was the extent of me ensuring my hair pieces served their purpose.

Eventually, I did order a wig from ZMHair made for the same size cranium as my own, but as of writing this I haven’t opted for a custom hairline on any theatrical hair piece. I have instead made the pieces fit my own face as best as I could. I thought I was doing very well that first year I had a ZMHair set, until I spent more time in front of the camera in 2020 for Santa’s Christmas Special. That was when I realized something peculiar.

Caring Enough to Notice

We’d just finished filming the original reindeer segment where Santa meets with Rudolph (in the finished special it’s a lovely little reindeer named Pistachio) when I started scratching my head. For the majority of the shot, Santa (me) is in profile looking to the right of the screen. From the front, Santa looks great. As soon as he turns to look at the reindeer the mustache becomes more 2 dimensional and you can see the cheek behind it.

Until that moment I had only ever made sure Santa looked good from the front. I realized my mistake and have paid more attention since, wrapping the mustache AROUND my face (still mounted to the lip) but no longer applying it on flatly. The corner of the mustache looks much more realistic if it meets up with the beard-line, so I began adjusting that as well. By the time we re-shot the sequence with Pistachio, my mustache and beard looked considerably better in style and placement.

The wig is another creature altogether. The horrid thing that must come with the beard yet hardly makes it into pictures. If it’s not taken care of, it will detract from the experience. With scissors and careful planning, over the years I have changed the length of my wig sideburns and the sideburns connected to the beard, trimming off the lace and hair completely so they fit my face and each other better, almost like jigsaw puzzle pieces.

Styling a wig has always been problematic for me until the last few years. They just don’t want to stay down and in place. The culprit of messy wigs… is me. I turn my head a lot when performing, and thus the hair gets pushed forward by my shoulders. It does not look good at all in photos and photographers are usually focusing on the kids/the other lovely details too much to notice a batch of strands has gone rogue. This last season I experimented A LOT to get things to be how I wanted them to be, WITHOUT thinning the hair down (again, I need hair to cover my little neck, I can’t just thin the wig down). I think I’ve developed a process that provides consistent results. So much so, I might be persuaded to make a decent wig tutorial video of it.

Except for those few of us who have no hair, I feel confident in stating the rest of us have experienced both bed hair and hat hair. Using the principles of “training” the hair to be a certain way (curlers in the hair throughout the night do this too), I pioneered (at least in my limited experience and background) a way to get the wig to stay exactly where I need it to, fit under the hat, and blend in well with my body and beard.

See, the problem in wardrobe also exists in beards. We must look like we wear this 24/7. It must look amazing AND natural. Storing pieces properly is crucial to this. A mustache would be better stored on a slightly curved surface, mimicking the upper lip, a wig on a wig head, a beard on a model chin. I’ve even gone so far as to want my own head cast in Styrofoam so I can have an accurate head to mount and trim my pieces to. Could you imagine how wonderful it would be if we each had a perfect cast of our face, we could style our beards on (for false bearded brethren) or a perfectly measured mannequin to ensure our wardrobe looked top notch and fitted just so?

With multiple looks, the problem grows. Not only must we become accustomed to how a Santa suit should look on us to pass as being made for us, but also how billowy shirts, enormous belts, boots, and other items should look. Multiply that with how many spare eyebrows, mustaches, wigs, and beards the traditional Santa crowd wears and there’s just too much to keep up with for one person. Yet, we need to look as if all these pieces belong.

Own What You Wear

For a long time, I struggled with the idea of 4-inch-wide belts and accompanying buckles.  But that was the common size on the market, I had very few choices outside of those. Ratio-wise, I believed (and have come to confirm) that a smaller belt and buckle combo would work better for me overall. I prefer to have people’s attention see a Santa who wears a belt and buckle, rather than a belt and buckle…  who happen to be around something… oh, there’s Santa!”

The same thing can be said about style of suits and fur trim width. I tried out a Tim Allen inspired Santa hat this past season, and looking back at photos I don’t think this style fits my round face (Tim Allen’s face is long). I ended up the season reverting back to my original hat and adopting the smaller 3.15 inch wide belt and smaller buckle.

When trying to decide how wide my fur trim and cuffs should be, I’ve done some mockups and looked in the mirror to judge. Getting the suit, boots, belt, and beard to look like they were made for me, while still looking like Santa’s, is an ongoing journey. The more we care about representing the man at the North Pole, the better we will not only look, but we will feel it (inside and out).

At the end of the day, we are ourselves, but for a little while we need to fit into Santa’s big boots and mustache. Do what you can with the time that you have.

Yours as always,

Santa Stuart