It all started when Erin Pearce needed a dress for New Year’s Eve.
“I’d been watching Seinfeld a lot and I really love [George] Costanza, so I thought—I’ll make a George Costanza dress!” she said.
The Los Angeles-based seamstress created a montage of the beloved Seinfeld character’s faces and uploaded it to Spoonflower, a website that specializes in making custom-print fabrics. About a week later, she received her fabric design. A few days after that, she made the dress.
Pearce posted a photo of her Costanza creation to her Tumblr and, within hours, received thousands of reblogs. People began contacting her with orders and requests for other custom-printed designs.
“One girl asked me if I could make [a dress with] all four Seinfeld characters for her bridesmaids,” Pearce said. “She wants a George, Kramer, an Elaine, and a Jerry.”
The 25-year-old self-taught sewer caters her designs to what her customers want. Other wares include a dress featuring nine film stills of Natalie Portman crying and one with different images of Captain Picard from Star Trek. She’s currently working on a dress with prints of Christopher Walken dancing from Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice” music video. Her next project, she said, will be a Renaissance-style Tudor dress with a scene from Game of Thrones.
Pearce’s dresses range in price from $180 to $200 and can be ordered via email. She makes button-ups, skirts, T-shirts, and other pieces, too. “My friend wants leggings with pictures of her dog,” she said.
Her top sellers, though, are the George Costanza Dress and another dress emblazoned with pictures of Larry David’s different faces.
