A superhero origin story serves as an allegory for a poignantly thrilling coming-of-age tale for Pakistani American teen Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani). “We wanted to represent her in multifaceted ways,” says costume designer Arjun Bhasin. “She’s an artist, a misfit, a [Marvel] superfan, a young woman, a South Asian.”
Kamala’s initial purple corduroy shirt and hoodie hint toward the superpowered crystalline energy that she’ll channel via her great-grandmother’s bangle, which Bhasin detailed with Islamic calligraphy. He imagined that the Jersey City-ite imbued her thrifted wardrobe with creative self-expression. Kamala embroiders superhero-esque stars on her baggy jeans and doodles on her Converse Chuck Taylors.
Visiting family in Pakistan, Kamala “realizes that her relatives are super hipster compared to her,” says Bhasin, depicting a familiar second-generation experience (although she does manage to violate a club dress code with her red Chucks, jeans and an AvengerCon T-shirt). “No matter where she goes, she’s always a little bit of a misfit and a nerd. She’s neither from here nor from there.”
Kamala explores Karachi, and her ancestral history, discovering how to fully command her innate powers. Her ensemble evolves into a red kurta tunic over dark jeans. “It’s an amalgamation of all those different worlds that live within her,” says Bhasin, who custom-designed 95 percent of the costumes.
The outfit’s color-blocking and silhouette lead to the Ms. Marvel supersuit, which Bhasin designed with Islamic art and a kaf, the Arabic letter Kamala’s name starts with. “All the different facets of what it means to be a superhero is to be true to yourself in the end,” says Bhasin. “When she finds herself, it’s really the most honest expression of who she actually is.”
Lucy (Zoe Margaret Colletti), the daughter of Charles-Haden’s (Steve Martin) ex, makes her debut in season two like a Zoomer tornado. She bursts into the Arconia and befuddles her estranged de facto stepfather with her fast-talking, youthful vernacular and sheer enthusiasm to “culture up in Manhatty!”
After reading the “hilarious” dialogue, costume designer Dana Covarrubias jumped on the idea of conveying the generational divide through Gen Z’s “anti-fashion.” “It’s chaotic and confusing,” says Covarrubias, who introduced the newcomer in a neon multicolored Forever 21 cardigan and yellow plaid flannel BDG pants, covered in yin-yang signs.
A flummoxed Charles implores millennial Mabel (Selena Gomez), clad in her signature marigold, to connect with Lucy. Listening to the latter’s rapid-fire stream-of-consciousness monologue, Mabel finds herself just as bewildered. But the two young women connect through their yellow palettes. “We wanted to make sure that they looked like they could borrow things from each other’s closets, but different enough so you felt that Lucy was a younger generation,” says Covarrubias, who took inspiration from Instagram, plus street style in Brooklyn neighborhoods like Greenpoint and Bushwick.
In the finale, set a year later, Lucy, now a member of the Arconia sleuthing team, beams in an adorably chic Alice + Olivia black dress, with a scalloped white lace collar and trim. “We wanted to make her look a little bit older and mature,” says Covarrubias, admitting that Colletti’s own vivacious aesthetic may have influenced Lucy’s last look. “She has a really cute blend of ’60s go-go girl meets Harajuku — very interesting personal style.”
“The overarching theme is grief,” says costume designer Allyson Fanger, charting 17-year-old Alice’s (Lukita Maxwell) journey toward acceptance a year after her mother’s death.
“She’s still pulling it together, but she’s also dealing with her dad, who’s a mess, and she has to be the adult in the household,” says Fanger. Before school, Alice, hastily clad in a slouchy red hoodie and long denim shorts, furiously cleans up the kitchen, ravaged from dad Jimmy’s (Jason Segel) late-night bender.
“Her mom hasn’t been around for a little while. They haven’t gone shopping and she doesn’t have anything new,” says Fanger. During her therapist father’s emotional absence, Alice leans on neighbor Liz (Christa Miller). Fanger imagines the generous empty-nester bought Alice more polished pieces, like a pleated Brandy Melville miniskirt.
As father and daughter begin to repair their relationship, Alice starts to come out of her shell. Excited for an engagement party, Alice leaves Jimmy almost speechless as she descends the stairs in a black slip-dress with lace overlay by Kwaidan Editions. The long sleeves and high neck provide protective cover, while the sheer mesh telegraphs vulnerability. “She’s on the precipice of womanhood. Her dad is hosting an event just like when her mom was still alive,” says Fanger, also nodding to Gen Z’s affinity for ’90s trends. “It’s the first time when she feels a sense of normalcy of her youth.”
Alice and Jimmy eventually work through their loss together, culminating in an exuberant finale wedding. Alice wears her mom’s PVC and gold-heeled “hot-as-shit shoes” with a vintage dress featuring vibrant pastel watercolor patterns. “[Alice was] feeling her emerging womanhood and had a brightness and a lightness to her,” says Fanger. “That fabric was light, ethereal and happy. There was joy in it.”
Amid an existential quarter-life crisis, personal assistant Portia (Haley Lu Richardson) embarks on a luxurious Italian holiday with her boss, Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge). In a breakfast scene, Portia wears a Stüssy plaid mechanic’s shirt and statement sunglasses, one of her many randomly assembled outfits that sparked an impassioned discourse among viewers, who also questioned her chaotic decision-making.
“She seems like [she] would clutch at disparate trends,” says costume designer Alex Bovaird. Like her peers, Portia experiments with fashion to express and explore her “moods” and wavering ambitions. “She gets [to the resort], and it’s not what she expected,” says Bovaird. “She’s a bit deflated, and a couple of things she wears to breakfast, she barely paid attention to what she was pulling together. She’s depressed.”
Portia can’t look to her erratic boss for guidance, either, but she does “echo” Tanya’s style. “They’re both colorful, both eclectic,” says Bovaird. “Tanya sees herself in Portia and warns her, ‘Don’t live like me.’ ”
After a harrowing final night, Portia attempts to depart incognito at the airport, but dons her most discordant — therefore noticeable — ensemble: shirt and jeans from the day before, gift shop sunglasses and a baseball cap secured with a striped scarf, which references Tanya’s silky-headwear moments. Says Bovaird, “By the end, Portia is looking like a hot mess.”
This story first appeared in a June stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
