How ‘Quasi’ Costume Designer Created a Medieval Fantasy World

Costume designer Kelly Kwon breaks down her journey into this medieval fantasy.

This post was written by Kelly Kwon.

The most exciting part about Quasi is that it was a dream come true in my career. It enabled me to work closely with my family and friends, and I had the best time working on this film set. The sense of family really pushed my passion to create the best final product possible for everyone involved. I am very proud of what we accomplished in such a short time frame!

I was lucky to collaborate with director Kevin Heffernan and the Broken Lizard crew from the project’s inception. Kevin is my brother-in-law, and, along with my husband, we would always sit around and talk about future film ideas. I remember sitting at the dinner table one night, and Kevin mentioned the idea of Quasi. I thought it was a great idea and became excited since the hope of a period piece has always been close to my heart.

We didn’t put too much thought into it at the time since we were about to start Tacoma FD Season 3. Following Tacoma FD, we all assumed that their next project would be Super Troopers 3.

However, Kevin quickly informed me that Quasi was up next, and we had to be ready to shoot in 2 months.

Prepping for Quasi

What helped with this short prep time was that I already had a shorthand with Kevin and the Lizard, so having worked with them in the past. When I got my first Quasi script, I already knew which actors were playing each role, which helped facilitate my designs.

My research process was very short and quick due to scheduling, as the film came together quicker than I initially anticipated. I went back to the old-fashioned way of researching and getting references from paintings, especially Jean Malouel’s work. My goal was to create a period fantasy environment while staying true to the clothing of that particular time in history.

In the late Middle Ages, most lower-class people didn’t have many clothing options, and the ones they had were reused significantly. Also, the colors were very dark, but I wanted to use a little more splash of colors and texture in the big crowd scenes. I also wanted the viewer to recognize the class distinction of each character.

I tend to do very elaborate mood boards so I can focus my vision for each character on paper first. It organizes my thoughts as I move forward with implementing the look of the entire film.

In the beginning, I anticipated that Pope’s character would be the easiest to create. I just have to look up historical books and art references. I was very wrong.

I had to learn the new terminology of every single piece, sash, and garment. Trying to find somewhat very decorative religious fabric in a short period of time and on a small budget was almost impossible. After two weeks of asking everywhere, from fabric stores to online stores, I found it in Ukraine before the war. The fabric was shipped to Turkey and then to us. So, we only had a few days to create three sets for each look, making it very challenging.

Designing the Characters’ Looks

Big crowd scenes were fun in terms of creating costumes for peasants. I had a giant room full of options for these big crowd days. We just started putting looks together for our fitting days, but it felt like playing with paper dolls with real medieval-period costumes. It was one of my fun memories of Quasi with my costume team.

Creating costumes for Quasi (Steve Lemme) was challenging because of his hump and overall looks. Despite his work at a torture chamber, I wanted to make his character likable. I layered him with heavy fabric and textures at first, but his prosthetic hump disappeared due to the weight of the fabric. Our actor Steve started having shoulder, back, and hip pain as well. So, we ended up making a few changes to make it lighter and more comfortable.

Beyond our main characters, I enjoyed putting together torturers’ costumes.

When I first started, I designed them to reassemble medieval executioner style. When I met with my shopper, I was supposed to make a list of fabrics and trims I needed. Instead, I made my shopper try on all the background filler stock from rental houses. Our shopper had to stay in the office to be our model. He was happy to do it because he is a huge fantasy cosplay fan.

During this process fell in love with more mad-max-style medieval fantasy. Torture chambers are usually dark inside, so I tried to use more variety of texture, trim, and different types of metals. Also, few torture devices as their accessories.

When designing King’s looks, I wanted the audience to recognize that he loves wealth and fancy things. We used many rich colors like gold, burgundy, and royal navy and over-accessorized him. We didn’t want to reveal the hidden twists, but I found this medieval pin from Europe I couldn’t feature in a visible spot because there was a hidden phallus in it. Instead, I used it as a decorative pin for his tunic under his necklace. You can spot it on the screen if you look closely! It totally worked in the context of the scene where Kevin’s scrotum is nailed to a stump. So it’s a little bit of Easter egg fun.

I hope to keep working on ambitious and creative projects in the future, like Quasi. Every project is a new challenge for me. I find great fulfillment in my job and hope to continue to push myself beyond my limits.