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Video: Moon Knight costume designer reveals Easter Eggs for Scarlet Scarab's costume in finale

Moon Knight costume designer Meghan Kasperlik speaks to Metro and spills the beans on Layla's Scarlet Scarab attire.

The costume designer for Moon Knight has opened up about Layla’s epic Scarlet Scarab reveal in the finale, disclosing the Easter Egg nods subtly made to the costume throughout the series.

This week, the Marvel show drew to a close on Disney Plus, with the episode 6 ending featuring the debut of Jake Lockley in the post-credits scene, as well as an explosive fight between Marc Spector, Steven Grant (both played by Oscar Isaac), Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) and Layla El-Faouly (May Calamawy).

Having been reluctant to become the avatar for the ancient Egyptian moon god Khonshu, Layla eventually became an avatar for the hippo god Taweret instead, donning a stunning outfit as part of her superhero transformation, complete with sword-embellished wings.

While speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk, Emmy-nominated costume designer Meghan Kasperlik opened up about the influences that were put together to bring the vision to life, as well as the references to the costume fans might not have noticed in the earlier episodes.

Early on in the show, viewers learnt that the nickname Layla’s father had for her when she was a child was ‘little scarab’, which made her introduction as the first Egyptian Marvel superhero Scarlet Scarab that much more special.

Meghan explained that if viewers look closely in the episode where Layla is seen in the mental institution with Marc and Steven, they’ll be able to spot a plaster on her little finger embossed with a red scarab design.

May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly in Moon Knight
A new Marvel superhero is born (Picture: Marvel Studios/Disney Plus)
May Calamawy in Moon Knight
Spot the band aid (Picture: Marvel Studios/Disney Plus)

‘Layla’s costume in the asylum, she has on a band aid on her finger that has a little red scarab on it,’ she said.

Revealing more details for viewers to keep an eye out for, she continued: ‘If you look and you go back, on her sweatpants, the print that was on her sweatpants, we 3D-printed the same print that’s on her leggings as Scarlet Scarab on her sweatpants, so it’s the same exact print. So there’s little things with other characters that kind of told you who they were without it being so overly obvious.’

Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector/Steven Grant and May Calamawy as Layla El-Faouly in Moon Knight
If you look closely, you can see the pattern on Layla’s bottoms are the same as on her Scarlet Scarab costume (Picture: Marvel Studios/Disney Plus)

As early as episode two, the jacket Layla was wearing featured a pattern piece on the front that mirrored the Scarlet Scarab costume, while when the character’s late father was shown on the ground, he was wearing a scarab-patterned scarf.

Meghan also teased that everyone who’s in the asylum ‘has little nods to when they were in the show in other places’. Sounds like it’s time for another rewatch already.

One of the most glorious parts of the final episode was when, after her avatar’s costume was revealed, Layla reached behind her to unveil the grand wings on her back, with each side boasting a sword attached to the edge.

While Meghan admitted the wings were computer-generated, as they ‘didn’t have the time to physically do the wings’, she added that the ‘amazing’ feature ‘totally made the costume’.

May Calamawy in Moon Knight
Layla knew how to hold her own from the start (Picture: Marvel Studios/Disney Plus)

The costume designer stressed how much research went into creating the entire look, as well as the effort that went into making sure it was strongly linked to Taweret, the god known for protecting mothers and children and helping souls travel to the afterlife safely.

‘I did a lot of research for the show on ancient Egyptian culture, ancient Egyptian artefacts and history and I wanted to incorporate it as much as possible, so one thing that I did was because the costume comes from Taweret, there is a scarab beetle with the wings out on Taweret, but when we have it on Layla as Scarlet Scarab, the wings are in because the wings go out on her arms. So it was just incorporating little details from the Taweret costume,’ she said.

Taweret in Moon Knight
The costume designer ensured Scarlet Scarab’s costume would have nods to Taweret (Picture: Marvel Studios/Disney Plus)

The pattern on the legs, Meghan explained, came from an ancient Egyptian pattern they found in some tombs, while there’s also an ancient Egyptian figure design on the belt.

‘When you get the collar, that was based off an ancient Egyptian hand-beaded collar, but we put the scarab in there and put a few little other pattern designs. So there was a lot incorporated into it, and I had an amazing painter come and hand paint the entire costume so it really had some depth added to that texture.’

There was even a hint at Layla’s future link to Taweret in episode two, as she was given a colourful jacket to wear to correspond with the deity’s colourful ensemble.

Responding to the incredible reaction fans had to Layla’s hero reveal, with many praising the positive representation in the series, Meghan said: ‘That was really truly inspirational for so many and I knew that it would be important.

‘That’s why I wanted to make sure in doing all the research about Egypt culturally today and also ancient Egypt, it was very important to get those details right.’

Moon Knight is available to watch on Disney Plus.

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