Moon Knight Interview: Costume Designer Meghan Kasperlik

Marvel's Moon Knight features some of Marvel's most stunning costumes to date. Played by Oscar Isaac, Moon Knight is one of the most unusual Marvel superheroes in the MCU. The character has been diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder, meaning Isaac plays multiple alters of the same superhero - with two distinctive costumes in four episodes. The outfits are mostly faithful to the comics, but improved for live-action.

In truth, Moon Knight was something of a challenge for the entire production team. Although Moon Knight is often described as Marvel's answer to Batman, he's noted for an all-white outfit that stands out from the shadows rather than sinking into them. As he explained in the comics, this is because he doesn't want to skulk; he wants his targets to know he's coming for them, and to be reacting in fear and dread. White is a difficult color to work with on the screen, so Marvel's costume department felt the pressure to create something that was both iconic and practical.

Screen Rant had an opportunity to speak to costume designer Meghan Kasperlik about the show's superhero outfits, and the incredible attention to detail displayed throughout. She further shone light on the supporting cast, including the villainous Arthur Harrow, and even revealed secrets about the hippo god Taweret who was introduced at the end of episode 4.

Screen Rant: In any superhero TV series, the focus is on the superhero costumes to begin with. How closely did you draw upon the comics when designing the main Moon Knight costume, and how did you make that a reality?

Meghan Kasperlik: I worked with Marvel to create the costume. There was inspiration taken from the comics, but you have to elevate and bring it up to the next level. I like a lot of texture in costumes, so I wanted to make sure there was a lot of texture in both the Moon Knight and Mr. Knight costumes.

For the Moon Knight costume, I created a custom fabric - multiple custom fabrics - using EuroJersey and 3D printing on all of the fabrics. I worked closely with the company at FBFX, who did all the 3D printing, when constructing the costume. The grand total of the patterned pieces in there was 803 pieces, so [there's] a plug to them for working with me on that, because each strip was individually cut for the main part of the suit. It was two different colors; there were two different textures, so that was for the top portion. For the bottom, there were four different textures 3D printed and patterned off of that.

It was an extreme amount of work, but obviously people are loving it, so it was worth it.

Screen Rant: The irony with Moon Knight, of course, is that there are really two costumes. How did you make the Mr. Knight costume work so effectively as well? It looks so different too.

Meghan Kasperlik: In the comics, it's a three-piece suit. I was a little bit scared to take on a white three-piece suit, because that doesn't always turn out so well. I was very adamant with my team when we were sourcing the fabric that there has to be texture in it, but it couldn't be so strong that you only ended up looking at the texture and the fabric. I ended up using an upholstery fabric; it had a little silver in it so when the light hits it, it gives a luminous feel to it that I think really helps with the character.

In episode 2, we filmed it at night, so I wanted the light to bounce off of that. I felt it was very effective. We customized the lapels - they're the Khonshu symbol. Also on the waistcoat, there are custom-made Khonshu buttons, so they were a symbol. You have to look real close, but they're there. Custom gloves, custom shirt... Everything was custom-made to give it an extra-special feel.

Mr. Knight fixing his glove in Moon Knight

Screen Rant: The attention to detail is tremendous. On the subject of attention to detail, do Moon Knight's various alters affect the everyday clothing choices he wears? Does Marc tend to choose slightly different clothing at all to Steven, and have we perhaps even seen hints of this third alter in some of the clothing choices as well?

Meghan Kasperlik: I wanted to make sure Steven and Marc were two different personas; two different people. Their costumes were very different. I worked very closely with Oscar [Isaac] to work on both characters. But also in those choices, there are little beats... [There are] pyramids in certain prints of their costume, or the hoodie that Marc wears. I wanted to make sure that was a little hint to where we were going, because it's kind of a soft gray tone.

There's little hints throughout in the costume to signify who the character is and what their relation is, either to Khonshu or to Egypt or something referenced from the comics.

Screen Rant: Every superhero story is as good as their villain. Arthur Harrow is quite an interesting one, because he has such a small presence in the comics, so you presumably had a lot more room to maneuver and experiment. How did you design the various costumes he wears?

Meghan Kasperlik: I worked closely with Ethan Hawke to make sure there was a simplicity in appearance to that, and also that Harrow is part of his people; he's with the people. We talked a lot about monks and cult leaders, and I discovered the cult leaders always had pretty simple outfits. There was nothing too over-the-top; they weren't super-flashy. It could've been the haircut that was a little different, or a pair of glasses.

In this case, I wanted the costume to be very simple in dress and silhouette, but then I added the heavier sandals so they could weigh down the character. Also, you don't see it in every scene, but Harrow always has a pair of bracelets. He has one on each wrist. Engraved into the bracelet is Ammit's death prayer, based on an ancient Egyptian death book displayed at the Met museum in New York. I took a reference from that. It's hard to see, but they are engraved; it is an inscription.

Screen Rant: We've seen some hints of the gods so far, with Khonshu and now Taweret. Could you tell us a little about how you designed the costumes of those gods as well?

Meghan Kasperlik: Khonshu is referenced from the comics. I wanted to develop a costume that could be worn, [because] there is an actor wearing that costume. I know there's CG elements to it, but any character that is CG... There was a costume created. With Khonshu, I wanted to take the mummy wrappings and different points from the comics and bring it to life. There's about six different fabrics in the Khonshu costume, that are interwoven and mummy-wrapped around.

It ended up all being hand-sewn, because we needed to be able to get it on the actor with a little stretch to it. My lovely team at Budapest custom-made and hand-stitched the entire costume, including the gloves and the shoes. And there's a custom-made leather collar, and leather-strappings, hand-painted with the Khonshu symbol. Very faint, but they are there. Everything was very much personalized for him.

For Tarawet, I was very excited about the costume, because there was so much more light and color than some of our other costumes. I had an in-house metalsmith, who hand-hammered and hand-placed all the pieces on the headpiece. [There] is an ancient relic that is from Egyptian times, in some of the tombs. Taweret means "birth" and "mother," so it's like a birth-stamp on her. There's hieroglyphs all the way down that are hand-hammered in. I had an amazing artist do the jewel of the beetle that's on her chest, so I had a phenomenal in-house team that made all of that.

More Moon Knight Interviews

Moon Knight follows Steven Grant, a mild-mannered gift-shop employee, who becomes plagued with blackouts and memories of another life. Steven discovers he has dissociative identity disorder and shares a body with mercenary Marc Spector.