Behind the Seams: Discover the People and Craftsmanship Behind Performance Costumes
The finished costume is what everyone sees.
Under the lights, on the dance floor, on television or on stage, it becomes part of the performance. Colour, movement, crystals and fabric come together to create the glamour the audience remembers.
But behind every finished costume lies another story.
A story of people and specialist skills. Of fabrics, patterns, cutting tables and sewing machines. Of experience, problem-solving, precision and an extraordinary amount of work.
Under the lights, on the dance floor, on television or on stage, it becomes part of the performance. Colour, movement, crystals and fabric come together to create the glamour the audience remembers.
But behind every finished costume lies another story.
A story of people and specialist skills. Of fabrics, patterns, cutting tables and sewing machines. Of experience, problem-solving, precision and an extraordinary amount of work.
25th August 2026
Behind the Seams at DSI London invites you to step through our doors in South London
and discover that story for yourself.
It is not a recreation of how performance costumes are made. You are entering the home of a real working London manufacturer, where costumes for Ballroom and Latin dancing, theatre, film, television and live performance are created every day.
And what visitors discover is often very different from what they expected.
More Than the Finished Costume
For many visitors, the initial fascination begins with the costumes themselves.
Behind the Seams features also costumes as seen on Strictly Come Dancing, giving visitors an opportunity to experience performance costumes away from the television screen and appreciate them from an entirely different perspective.
Up close, the details become much more apparent.
The weight of a heavily crystallised dress can be surprising. So too can the intricacy of the decoration, the construction beneath it and the sheer amount of workmanship required to create something which, once worn, must appear effortless.
Costumes are an important part of the Behind the Seams experience, including an interactive fashion element that has become a particular favourite with our visitors.
But the finished dresses are only the beginning of the story.
From Ballroom to Stage and Screen
DSI London's roots lie firmly within the world of Ballroom and Latin dancing, but the specialist skills developed through performance wear have taken our work far beyond the dance floor.
Today, our South London team also creates costumes and specialist garments for professional theatre, film, television and live entertainment, with work contributing to productions including Moulin Rouge!, Hamilton, Wicked and Barbie.
The demands can be very different, but one principle remains constant: a performance costume has to do far more than simply look beautiful.
It has to work.
It must respond to movement, withstand the demands of performance and translate a creative vision into a garment that can perform night after night or in front of a camera.
Behind the Seams offers an introduction to this wider world and to the specialist knowledge that sits behind it.
Made in London — See It for Yourself
We talk proudly about Made in London, but Behind the Seams provides something much more meaningful than simply reading those words.
You can see it for yourself.
During tours taking place within our normal working hours, visitors enter our working production environment and see specialist costume manufacturing taking place around them.
Cutting tables, patterns, sewing machines, garments in construction and decoration are all part of an active workplace. The different stages of production do not exist as a demonstration created for the tour; they are simply part of what happens at DSI London every working day.
What often surprises visitors most is the scale.
Behind the finished costumes is a substantial production operation and a team of highly skilled people, working together in South London to make them possible.
Manufacturing specialist garments in Britain requires knowledge, commitment and continual problem-solving. Keeping these skills together allows designers, pattern cutters, cutters, machinists, dressmakers and decorators to collaborate throughout the creation of a garment.
It also helps preserve specialist skills that can only truly develop through experience.
Made in London is therefore not simply about where something is made. Behind the Seams allows you to discover something of what it takes to make it here.
Step Into a World of Colour
One of the unexpected highlights for many visitors is our fabric collection.
Walk into the fabric rooms and you enter a world of colour, texture and possibility.
The fabrics surrounding you are not simply there to create an impressive display. They form part of the same working environment, with many of our specialist fabrics developed and colour coordinated for use within DSI London's own performance garments as well as being available to designers, dressmakers and dancers around the world.
For anyone interested in sewing, textiles, fashion or design, seeing such an extensive collection together can be fascinating.
For everyone else, it provides another glimpse into something we often take for granted when watching a finished performance:
before there can be a costume, somebody has to choose what it will be made from.
The People Behind the Costumes
Perhaps the most important part of Behind the Seams cannot be found on a rail or a cutting table.
It is the people.
Exceptional performance garments depend upon specialist skills acquired through years of learning, repetition and experience.
A beautiful finished costume can make the process appear almost effortless. The reality is very different.
Behind it are people concentrating on patterns and fit. People cutting and machining. People working with delicate fabrics and thousands of crystals. People solving problems when an idea on paper has to become a garment capable of moving on a human body.
There is creativity, certainly.
But there is also precision, patience, teamwork, dedication and hard work.
Excellence doesn't simply happen. People make it happen.
Behind the Seams gives visitors an opportunity to look beyond the finished product and gain a greater appreciation of the people and craftsmanship that make performance possible.
For the Curious — and the Next Generation
You do not have to be a dancer, dressmaker or fashion expert to enjoy Behind the Seams.
Our visitors include Strictly enthusiasts, sewing and craft groups, Women's Institutes, clubs and organisations, as well as people who are simply curious to discover what happens inside a working British manufacturer.
But there is another audience particularly close to our hearts.
For students of fashion, costume and the creative industries — and for young people considering where their own creative abilities might take them — seeing a real working environment can offer something very different from studying the finished result.
Behind the Seams provides an opportunity to see that specialist garment-making skills still exist in London and to gain a realistic insight into what working within this world requires.
Creativity matters. So does talent.
But so do commitment, continual learning, resilience, attention to detail and the willingness to work hard at developing your craft.
We cannot tell anyone where their own journey will lead.
Sometimes, however, simply seeing what is possible can be the beginning of one.
More Than a Tour
People come Behind the Seams for many different reasons.
Some come because they love Strictly Come Dancing. Some are fascinated by sewing or fashion. Some want to know more about British manufacturing. Others simply want to enjoy an unusual afternoon and discover a world they would not normally have the opportunity to enter.
What we hope they share is a little more understanding when they leave.
The next time they see a dress moving effortlessly across a dance floor, an actor appearing in costume on stage or a performer stepping in front of a camera, perhaps they will look at it differently.
Because behind those few moments of performance can lie many hours of skilled human work.
That is the world Behind the Seams exists to reveal.
Come Behind the Seams
Our Open Behind the Seams Tours take place at DSI London's South London home on the first Tuesday of every month and selected Saturdays at 2pm.
Each experience lasts approximately two hours and costs £30 including VAT per person. You are welcome to book a single place and join one of our Open Tours, so there is no need to organise a group.
Your visit begins with a welcome glass of Prosecco before we introduce you to the story of DSI London and invite you to discover the costumes, fabrics, craftsmanship and people behind our work.
Private group tours, educational visits and external Behind the Seams experiences are also available.
Come inside. See how we work. Meet the craftsmanship. Discover the stories. And perhaps leave looking at performance costumes rather differently than you did before.
Book your Behind the Seams Tour and come and see it for yourself.
