Godzilla vs. Kong‘s costume designer breaks down the thought process behind styling Monarch! While Legendary’s MonsterVerse has been incorporating elements from TOHO and Universal’s past, one of the most unique elements that has been crafted for this universe is the scientific organization trying to learn more and potentially control it all with Monarch. With various looks at Monarch through the decades between Kong: Skull Island and the events of Godzilla vs. Kong, it was important to the design team to make a distinct look for the organization while still finding a way to honor the past.
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Speaking with ComicBook.com’s Evan Valentine through email correspondence, Godzilla vs. Kong costume designer Ann Foley opened up about Monarch’s overall style as they venture into the Hollow Earth, “It was important to Director Adam Wingard and myself that these suits did not mimic the superhero costumes and space suits that have been seen before in other films,” Foley began.
“The Monarch Team is going into the unknown environment of Hollow Earth, and so we wanted to imagine a suit that would offer them both protection from the potentially hostile environment and something that audiences might not expect,” Foley stated. Continuing further, Foley broke down what went into making the Monarch suits really stand out, “Adam and I also wanted to ensure that the fabric for the Monarch Team suits had dynamic movement and a singular reflection of light.”
As Foley explained further, the suits ended up with a fabric not seen in any other film, “By using 3-D fabric printing, I experimented with different techniques and inks until I landed on a red ink that was printed onto a fabric with a black base, and then layered a copper pattern on top of that. The result is that when the suit moves, it changes color, depending on how the light hits it. It was an incredibly rewarding creative process that resulted in a fabric that is specific to the costume and not seen in any other film.“
As for the final touches, Foley made sure to add some practical elements to Monarch’s looks for their Hollow Earth excursion, “To complete the Monarch Team costumes I added a climbing harness over the suit that we modified for the film and a riggers belt with a variety of tools that might be needed in Hollow Earth.”
But what do you think of Monarch in the MonsterVerse so far? Curious to see what they’ll be up to in Godzilla vs. Kong? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or you can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!
