Echo Costume Designer Details Honoring the Choctaw Nation and Designing Maya's Superhero Suit

We spoke to Stacy Caballero about her Emmy-nominated work on Echo.

By Jamie Jirak - August 8, 2024 04:26 pm EDT

Echo was released on Disney+ and Hulu earlier this year, and the follow-up to Hawkeye saw Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) returning to her family after going on the run for shooting Wilson Fisk/Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio). In the series, Maya starts to embrace her Native American heritage and ultimately embraces her ancestors to become Echo. ComicBook recently had the chance to chat with the show's costume designer, Stacy Caballero, who is nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes for her work on the episode, "Lowak." During the chat, Caballero spoke about how she honored the Choctaw Nation through costumes and detailed Maya's superhero suit.

"It wasn't just a Choctaw story or Marvel story or a superhero story about families and love and loss. I feel like it was a love letter to the Choctaw Nation," Caballero explained. "So just world-building and doing all the historical research ... A team of us, we went to Oklahoma and the Choctaw Cultural Center was so open and lovely to us. And that is a beautiful museum. It's inspiring and well done. There are some amazing people, historians there ... They were forthcoming with information and anything we needed."

(Photo:
Anasazi tribe dignitaries
- Stacy Caballero)

"We spent a few days there just touring," she continued. "It's so much to take in. It was really beautiful. And I had access to them. We set meetings with them so I could review things, and symbols being so important. Everything that was on that costume needed to be there for a reason. And then also it was important for me to take things from her ancestors' costumes and put it in hers ... If you look at it, it's a combination of everything you've seen in the ancestors."

(Photo:
Working on the design of Echo's superhero suit.
- Chuck Zlotnick / Marvel Studios)

"When you asked me what my favorite costume was, even though I feel like there were so many good characters, and within that, thoughtful costumes," Caballero continued. "But if I had to pick a special one, I think it's not just one, it's Maya's transition into Echo ... There's a transition when she finally starts possibly understanding and accepting the voice of her ancestors."

"And Skully [Graham Greene] gets her the leg plate. The next time we see her, when she's with Kingpin, she's in a transition. It's like the first time you see her in armor. She has this harness on and she's ready to go. So in her mind and her resourcefulness and her cleverness, she puts this together, she thinks it's her battle costume or what she feels is right as far as clothing goes ... For the fight costume, I worked with concept artist Greg Hopwood and Trey Shaffer with graphics."

(Photo:
Alaqua Cox as Echo
- Chuck Zlotnick / Marvel Studios)

"Rodney [Fuentebella], who was the supervisor for visual development on this project, he and his team, they would present ideas and they had that one, " she explained. "Sydney [Freeland] approved it and Marvel approved it. Sydney wanted to see us develop something beyond that for the powwow into the final battle scene. We found a strong place for it ... I feel like that started the transition."

"I was very thoughtful of the color palette, so I already had brought the burgundy in and I kept using it throughout, starting with her leather jacket, and it continues with the burgundy harness. The color palette started to evolve a little bit at that point."

(Photo:
Costume Designer Stacy Caballero working on Echo.
- Chuck Zlotnick / Marvel Studios)

"After that, we took it further and it's about what Chula [Tantoo Cardinal] has made for her at this point. As Chula starts to understand Maya's journey and Maya's starting to connect with her ancestors, that's how this costume evolved," Caballero shared.

"Everybody's getting ready for the powwow, which is another beautiful Choctaw ceremony. This superhero evolves from this, and with Chula also, the ancestors are speaking to her. That's where parts of it come into this costume that she makes for Maya."

(Photo:
Tantoo Cardinal as Chula in Echo.
- Chuck Zlotnick / Marvel Studios)

"First of all, the ceremonial vest, everything is so thoughtful," Caballero added. "I have worked on that one with Christian Cordella ... I wanted to bring back the Echo sun, which she had on her leather jacket ... And then beaded rays from the sun. We're bringing in the Choctaw elements of the beautiful beading and every bit of symbolism."

"I was working with the Choctaw Nation, various craftsmen, and historians, and every symbol was very meaningful ... The Choctaw Cultural Center approved everything ... We arranged things, swapped things out, just made sure everything was respectful and meaningful to Maya and the Choctaw Nation."

Stay tuned for more from our interview with Caballero. Echo is streaming on Disney+.

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