In the early 1940's Leon Harris a tailor, in Oklahoma was busy outfitting famous country western stars like Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell, and Hank Williams.Harris gained notoriety when he was the first to use pearl snaps and the western yoke pattern on shirt fronts. He also made custom western wear for Bob Wills, Hank Snow, Leon McAuliffe and the Light Crust Doughboys. In an effort to bolster the tailoring and manufacturing business in Fort Worth, the Chamber of Commerce recruited Mr. Harris to Fort Worth in the mid 1940's.Soon customers hired Leon and his wife, Clarice Harris to make costumes for special events. As requests for "western wear" declined, requests for costumes increased, so much so that in 1949 the name of the shop was changed to Harris Costumes. In 1970, Phyllis Doyle, the daughter of Leon and Clarice took over the business. She spent the next 35 years building the inventory to over 17,000 pieces. Mrs. Doyle realized that the shop's continued success depended on aggressive advertisement. With the assistance of her son Jason they contacted schools and theaters all over the state of Texas. Harris Costumes is one of the premier places to rent costumes for theatrical productions in the state. In January 2005, Mrs. Doyle sold the business to a long-time customer, Korey Williams. Korey earned a double Masters Degree in Speech Communications and Theatre Arts from Louisiana Tech University.In theatre Korey's major field of study was directing / acting and her minor was costume design. Since purchasing the shop she has added a complete line of costumes for Disney's "Beauty and the Beast," "Cinderella," and "The King and I". She has also recently updated costumes for the "The Wizard of OZ."Her ability to match fabric, color and style is evident in these creations. Korey is dedicated to upgrading the shop's inventory as well as keeping Harris Costumes committed to providing quality costumes at reasonable prices primarily for Theatrical Productions.
Korey Williams, Owner
Korey has a Masters Degree in Speech Communications and Theatre Arts from Louisiana Tech University. Korey's major field of study was directing / acting and her minor was costume design. She married David Williams and they have three adult children. She taught Speech at Texas Christian University, Tarrant County Community College and the University of Texas at Arlington. In 1997 she volunteered to direct "Oklahoma" for the students at teachers at Temple Christian School in Ft. Worth, Texas. It was the thing that would change her life.
She met Phyllis Doyle the owner of Harris Costumes that year and the "love affair" with the idea of owning the shop began! She informed Phyllis that she would love to be contacted if and when she ever wanted to sell the business and then waited patiently. In the summer of 2004, Phyllis, who had been in the business her entire life, decided that it was time and contacted Korey.
The shop was a wonderful tool for local schools and organizations to rent costumes, and Phyllis was happy with that business, but Korey had visions of being more than just a shop for locals she wanted to be known all across the United States and has accomplished that thanks to the beautiful line of "Beauty and the Beast" costumes. She is constantly putting all the profit back into the shop to update the costumes that she already has as well as adding new pieces every week. She has 2 full time seamstresses in the shop and employees three others as needed.
Korey is extremely talented as well as trained in costume design. In the past year she has added new costumes for "The King and I," and has recently updated costumes for "Cinderella." She spends hours on just the right fabric, texture, color and trim before each dress of suit is sewn and it is so evident in the finished product. The costumes at Harris are very high quality and the prices remain reasonable.
She is a wonderful Christian woman and is an excellent employer. She will always be fair and honest with her customers and her employees. It a joy to work with and for her. I assure you that she and her staff will do all that they can to ensure your complete satisfaction.
Kim Rachall, Full-Manager
Many years ago Lea Rachall came to work for Phyllis at the costume shop. She was a loyal employee of the shop until she passed away suddenly a few years ago. Amber Elliott, Lea's daughter still works occasionally, Ray Rachall, Brandi Rachall, and Kim Rachall, are just a few of the family members that have at one time or another worked for Harris Costumes as a result of Lea's employment.
Kim, Lea's sister-in law, began working at the shop over 20 years ago and I am pleased to say that she has recently returned to us full time. She is extremely knowledgeable about the shop and all of its components.She seems to know every dress, pair of pants, and accessory in the shop and where to find it at any given moment, which is an amazing talent! She is very kind and extremely patient. She ensures that each and every customer is completely satisfied. She is such a joy to work for and with. She is also our expert in theatrical make-up. We are thrilled to have her!
Lauren Rachall, Beauty and the Beast Specialist
Lauren is Kim's daughter and has been employed at Harris for the past year. She is a Student at Tarrant County Community College and works part time. She, like many of her family members before her, has grown up at Harris and is enjoying learning more about the business. She has recently taken "the torch" from her older sister, Brandi and is now in charge of pulling, shipping and organizing all of the costumes for "Beauty and the Beast." With four sets of costumes constantly on the move from shop to location, she stays extremely busy and has done an excellent job! She keeps us all up to date on what's new and what's not!
Maria- Seamstress
Maria is the seamstress at Harris and has been employed for 25years. She has made 80% of all the costumes on the line. She is very talented and is a huge part of the success that I enjoy!
Chella- Alterations
Chella is Maria's daughter had has worked at the shop for 22 years. She is responsible for alterations and is the expert in the area of laundry and cleaning. She assists her mother in making most of the hats, scarfs and accessories in the shop.
Noberto- Maintenance & Laundry
Noberto is also very talented and does many things around the shop. He does most of the general maintenance as well as the laundry. He recent took an older mascot head and re-vamped it making it into "Nana" the shaggy dog from "Peter Pan." He has worked at the shop for over 10 years.
Ellen, Cricket and Marisol are outstanding costume designers. Ellen and Cricket make the majority of the specialty dresses and Marisol makes most of the men's garments.
We would not be nearly as successful without the help of these three ladies.