The Santa Clara Vanguard is without a doubt one of the activity’s premier corps. They are a brand that has unquestionably helped make the “DCI era” of drum and bugle corps the state of the art for the marching arts. To date the Vanguard has produced six World Championships, countless memorable performances and a fan-base that reaches worldwide.
Over the past years Vanguard has ventured to modify, re-tool and re-invent its look. The most recent version experimented with unique – if untested – fabrics. Other designs explored white pants while yet others modified the sash and base colors in a variety of ways. At the center always remains the iconic Vanguard aussie hat and silver star.
Enter Vanguard CEO Jeff Fiedler. When speaking with Stanbury Uniforms’ drum corps representative Pat Seidling about Vanguard’s vision and its renewed vigor, it became apparent that a new uniform may be in order for 2009. Cautious that the corps has had perhaps a few too many uniform changes over the past years, Jeff and Pat at first moved slowly, starting by spending an evening with the wardrobe crew discussing production and delivery needs, then taking a look at virtually every uniform the corps has worn, going back to the early 1970’s. Unbelievably, the Vanguard has an actual sample of nearly every one of these!
“The corps color is red. We may have strayed a bit from that the past few years and let green and white be the lead color. I definitely wanted to make sure we were red” says Fiedler. “It became evident that there is one unique Vanguard red, and Stanbury was able to find it. We also wanted to pay homage to the long tunic coat that the corps wore for so many years, so we had several versions of the late 1970’s look sampled, along with some very new ideas”.
Sketches were offered up by Stanbury artist Brent Becker, pictures of the corps over the years were reviewed and compared and samples were put into production. On Saturday night of the March camp, armloads of prototypes were brought in and nearly 3 hours were spent under stadium lights, modeling, pinning, turning, moving and running combination after combination of looks. “The tunic ideas were certainly intriguing” says Jeff, “But we just couldn’t get past the long tunic in relation to today’s movement demands”.
It was at this point that visual designer Pete Weber had an inspiration: Vanguard 1999. The look allowed for a basic color pallet, was certainly not guilty of being “too busy”, and used the perfect Vanguard red, balanced against the corps’ dark green. In all ways it seemed very much the essence of “Vanguard the brand” that was being sought.
Long-time Vanguard personality JW Koester shared the background to the 1999 look that Pete Weber referenced, and noted that it was debuted in1997 and worn into the 2000’s, and was based on an in-house design and were hand-made by a local seamstress. Stanbury modernized the cut of the original design and incorporated a fabric that is moisture wicking, colorfast and offers unmatched comfort for the wearer.
At the April camp the team was again back under the lights, this time modeling a “modernized 1999” prototype. It took but 5 minutes for Jeff and visual staffers Sly Sybilksi and Mike Tarr to declare “this is it.”
“We also took this time to design a pant that provides the fit today’s corps desire and allows for the extreme range of movement that a Vanguard drill is known for” says Seidling. “Stanbury’s man in Indiana, Pat Butler, himself a long-time drum corps personality, came out with a rack full of prototype pants and spent a day with the crew and members. This resulting new pant design is born of the partnership and collaboration between the Vanguard and Stanbury”.
Fast forward to May 2. The pants are in and fitting is in full-on mode. Since the May move-in, coat fitting and tailoring has been happening on a daily basis. Some members have even already lost enough weight to be re-fit again! “I found that news quite funny” says Seidling, “I mean, I just walk past Miss Amana and I can gain 5 pounds!”
The June 12-14 opening weekend of dress rehearsal, Blue Devils Family Day and Vanguard’s own Flag Day and Family Day event are the debut “shake-down cruise” for the new look. Under the stadium lights, the white stripe – in a fabric exclusive to Stanbury – is electric. To quote Jeff, “It’s like we flicked on a switch!”
“We’re still a few days from having all the sizes needed in hand and all the fitting to the look we want, but the wheels are turning and we’re meeting deadlines, thanks to heroic efforts by Stanbury production folks” says Seidling. “Being able to work so closely with such a legendary corps as the Santa Clara Vanguard and with people like Jeff, Pete, Sly, Mike and the SCV wardrobe crew has been one of the highlights of my career with Stanbury.”
Hear the name “Santa Clara Vanguard” and an image immediately comes to mind. This year, look at the Santa Clara Vanguard and you’ll be sure to see that image in living color.
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