The costume design for Moon Knight has been one of the most lauded aspects of the Marvel Studios Disney+ series. Sure, Oscar Isaac is breathtaking, of course, but just take one look at the costume work—the love and extreme talent that went into them becomes crystal clear. Many would rank the Moon Knight or Mr. Knight suit as some of the best the MCU has ever crafted.
Marc Spector and Steven Grant aren't the only ones who have some spectacular clothing. Even entirely CGI creations such as Khonshu and Taweret had insanely detailed apparel actually created for on-set uses.
The Direct was able to sit down with the project’s costume designer, who helped make it all happen. Not only did she talk about the many costumes seen in the series, but also how Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige advocated for a key part of Mr. Knight’s costume.
The Kevin Feige Touch
In an exclusive interview, The Direct's Russ Milheim got to sit down with Moon Knight costume designer Meghan Kasperlik, where she revealed a key change that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige finalized, while also discussing the various suits.
While discussing how easy it was to actually put the costumes on the actors, the costumer noted how the "Mr. Knight suit [was] super easy," and that "the longest one to put on was the Moon Knight costume... [which] took 30 minutes to get on:"
“The Mr. Knight suit is super easy. It’s just like putting on a suit, like men’s suiting, so that was pretty easy. The Ammit and Taweret costumes definitely needed some help from the costumers to put that on because there were so many pieces. And they all like zipped up the back, or velcroed up the back, or snapped up the back type of thing. The Khonshu costume was actually pretty easy. I made it in pieces, so I always want to make the suits in pieces so that the actors can use the restroom [laughs]. They’re always thankful for that. But that one was pretty easy to get on and off. Probably the longest one to put on was the Moon Knight costume, and that took two people to get that on Oscar [Isaac] in the timeframe, and it took about 30 minutes to get on.”
She went on to exclaim how "proud [she is] of everyone who worked on" the Moon Knight costume, and revealed that in its original assembly, "[there were] 803 pieces" all put together:
"The Moon Knight costume, I’m just so proud of everyone who worked on it. There’s 803 pieces in that suit, of pieces, pattern pieces, and cutouts. That’s just a lot of work, and I’m so incredibly grateful to the team that put that together."
As for Steven Grant's alter ego, one of the most memorable elements of his live-action suit is the large tear down the length of Mr. Knight's mask, which was not part of his look in the comics. According to Kasperlik, that was actually added thanks to Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, and it's an element of the suit that "everyone seems to love:"
“That was all [Marvel Studios President] Kevin Feige. Kevin selected that and it just, I think, made such an impact. It was pretty cool, and everyone seems to love it. But that was all Kevin."
When it comes to how the suits were conjured, she revealed that "it was a discussion with everyone" to make sure that the visuals weren't ever too similar to that of any other Marvel film:
“Yeah, there was definitely those discussions about how the suit was conjured and stuff, and it was a discussion with everyone. It wasn’t just me, it was everyone at Marvel. That was a big discussion all the time about how can it not be similar to all the others. I think a lot of times when you get into TV and film and you work with people that are like, ‘Oh, our inspiration is this,” and they say another film or another TV show as an inspiration, you have a jumping off point. And this was more so he cannot [do something a certain way because someone else already does that]. So that was always a discussion”
Both Marc Spector and Steven Grant weren't just in their Khonshu garb the whole series. When deciding what the duo's civilian outfits would look like, Kasperlik explained how "Oscar [Isaac] and [herself] started with Steven," and tried to find a visual look where he could "kind of blend in... and not get overly noticed, but still look like he belongs there:"
“Oscar [Isaac] and I started with the Steven [Grant] costumes, because we felt like we really needed to hone in who Steven was. Steven lives in… a part of London that’s cool, but Steven’s not super cool. So, like, how can he kind of blend in there and not get overly noticed, but still look like he belongs there? So I found these really great vintage shirts, and it's kind of in style for men to wear a little bit baggier pants, so I did that and then I cropped it, and then I also cropped the pants in the Mr. Knight costume but had a clunkier shoe. Once Oscar [Isaac] put all of that on, his posture went from great posture to kind of a little slouchy. I felt like as soon as he did that, it was kind of like… we absolutely found Steven. So, that was amazing."
As for Steven's more confident alter ego, Marc "[wore] tans and browns and charcoals," so that he'd "blend in more with everyday people," something key for his line of work as a mercenary:
"And then with Marc [Spector], he couldn’t look like, too cool. I know you always want your badass action guy to look cool, but the whole point was that he looked like he blended in, because he has to be watching people. So mercenaries kind of blend into the environment… I was informed that mercenaries and spies and stuff, they don’t wear black because you can stand out if you wear black, and be remembered, so you wear tans and browns and charcoals because you’ll blend in more with everyday people. So I thought that was a really interesting tidbit to incorporate into Marc’s costume in making him—when he’s out, when we first kind of see him, he doesn’t have it on until Episode 5.”
The Many Improvements From Feige
The change to Mr. Knight’s attire that Kevin Feige opted for seems like such a small element, but it ended up making a massive difference. It’s now an iconic change that will forever define how audiences visualize the character.
But why did he go for that change in the first place? One guess would be how the tear is a fantastic visual representation of the mental conflict going on in Steven’s head, and how it may be splitting him apart. It also, quite simply, looks awesome.
With how much Feige is involved in the dozens of MCU projects out there, and those incoming, audiences will undoubtedly continue uncovering many unknown decisions made by him that have shaped the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Good thing he seems to know what he’s doing.
Moon Knight is streaming now on Disney+.
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