Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1531371
48 SPRING 2025 PHOTO: CHUCK ZLOTNICK. © 2024 MARVEL. retirement party. Basically, I followed her around to make sure she had a tissue in hand in case she was crying a lot. In all honesty, the best part of working with Marilyn was the nuggets of advice she shared with me along the way. She truly brought me in and gave me tricks and advice to be used throughout my career. She showed me what it means to lead a team, how to hold yourself high, and be proud of the work that you are doing. Marilyn has a wealth of stories from her career; her spontaneous moments of sharing time would be one of the best highlights of the day. It truly was a mentorship that I would cherish until the end of my career. What were your favorite costumes to work on? HOANG: My favorite costume would definitely be Ghost Agatha. She was so intricately designed from the practical lights we used, to the pleated skirt, her bolero, her walking skirt, shawl, light up bodice... That design has layers upon layers of details that can only be seen in person. The costume went through a lot of fittings but in the end, Daniel was true to his vision of Ghost Agatha and the design never strayed from the beginning. Toward the end, I remember we put all of the working parts together, turned off all of the lights and saw the costume for the first time in all of its shining glory. Although I didn't work on this costume piece directly, one of my other favorite costume pieces is Agatha's hero blouse that she wears underneath her coat. The screen does not do that blouse justice, Adrienne [Martinez] and Emma pin tucked it and engineered it to the 1/16th of an inch. What techniques or skills did you use for this experience that you don't usually get to use? HOANG: The most exciting skill that I don't get to use often is my tailoring skills. Although I've worked on and have built tailored suits, I'm not a tailor by trade. So working on Agatha's coat was a lot of pressure but also the most rewarding. Klara taught me so much too, along the way. I hardly get offered projects that require tailoring as much as the coat did and so it was fun brushing up some old and new skills. What type of challenges did you face while working on such a large production? HOANG: One of the biggest challenges would be the short prep time we had. By the time I started, we only had about three months until the first day of shooting and we were still in the research and development phase. Decisions were being made but our problem was how long each costume took to make because everything was so intricate and detailed. By the end, Klara and I were Lilia (center), played by Patti LuPone, wearing coat with inset Tarot card embroidery; (opposite) Sourcing samples for Lilia's costume.