‘Agatha All Along’ Costume Designer Daniel Selon Breaks Down the Witchy Wardrobe

To clothe the coven of Agatha All Along, Daniel Selon had to tap into his inner witch. As the lead costume designer of Marvel Television’s newest series, Selon was responsible for dressing every witch in the show — from Kathryn Hahn’s scheming sorceress to Patti LuPone’s kooky tarot reader. To prepare, he and his team researched centuries of witch-inspired clothing, and they even incorporated some real-life magic into their workroom.

“We would pull tarot cards in the department, and we would light candles,” Selon says. “We brought all of the witchy magic that is present in the show into the actual making process, which was so fun.”

The result is an appropriately magical tableau, evoking famous witches throughout history and pop culture. The Agatha All Along cast particularly praise Selon for his eagle-eyed attention to detail — right down to every individual stitch.

“I just think he’s a wizard,” Kathryn Hahn says of Selon. “He was so invested in the soul of this.”

“The costumes hold all the secrets of the show,” Joe Locke teases. “If you look closely at all the costumes, you’ll find every twist and turn of the show in them, which is so clever.”

Here, Selon takes Marvel.com on a tour of his favorite witchy details from across Agatha All Along:

AGATHA HARKNESS (Kathryn Hahn)

Before Selon even joined the show, he was already brainstorming ideas of what Kathryn Hahn’s witch could wear. In his very first meeting with showrunner Jac Schaeffer and executive producer Mary Livanos, he pitched a dramatic traveling coat for Agatha, a floor-length statement piece she could wear to walk the Road.

“It’s cheesy, but it’s true: It came to me in a dream,” Selon says with a laugh. “I wanted [Agatha] to have some swagger, and I knew that Kathryn played with lots of masculine and feminine energies, so tailoring felt like the right way to go. But I also wanted her to have a skirt, so this long traveling coat became the thing.”

The exterior of Agatha’s coat is a deep blue, but every time she moves, fans can catch a glimpse of the intricate purple lining. The interior of the coat is printed with elaborate runes, and together, they spell out pieces of Agatha’s story.

“There’s a whole journey in the interior of the coat,” Selon teases. “Each panel tells a story and has a talisman of her journey post-WandaVision. Everything she does in the show exists on the inside of her coat.”

Hahn also helped shape Agatha’s look herself. Early on, she and Selon started comparing Agatha’s status as a covenless witch to a raven who has lost her flock. So, Selon incorporated bird imagery into Agatha’s signature coat — including a lapel and collar that layer like feathers, and a pleated skirt that flares out like a tail.

TEEN (Joe Locke)

Locke’s cryptic teenager walks the Road in a raggedy grey sweater, one that he probably made himself.

“We had to design this look so he felt like a teen who was exploring different parts of himself,” Selon explains. “I like the idea that he made his own sweater in a time where he thought, ‘Maybe I should knit!’ So, he did his own sweater, and as he starts to explore the occult, he embroidered the actual symbols and runes into the sweater itself.”

Selon also hints that eagle-eyed viewers should pay attention to the doodles on Teen’s jeans. “At Marvel Studios, we love to create Easter eggs and give the fans a lot to wonder about,” he says. “As a costume designer, that’s such a joy because I love the little details. Every costume has its own story to tell.”

LILIA CALDERU (Patti LuPone)

Because Lilia is an expert tarot reader, Selon wanted to include as much tarot imagery as possible in her look. “We created a deck of tarot cards based on her life and some backstory that we made up to try and get in deep with the character,” he explains. “Then, we distilled those images into embroidery and embedded them in the collar of the costume, so her story was always with her.”

The tessellating trim at the bottom of the coat evokes the Italian home where Lilia grew up. And the tarot imagery also extends to her necklace: Lilia wears a golden abalone pendant representing the Sun card, crafted by jewelry designer Maura Green.

“Since [Lilia] deals a lot in divination, we wanted it to feel like moments captured in time,” Selon adds. “We wanted these marbles to be like crystallized memories captured.”

JENNIFER KALE (Sasheer Zamata)

Zamata’s potions expert presents herself as a put-together entrepreneur, so she needed a crisp, fashion-forward look to match. “She’s pretty, and you kind of want to hate her for how pretty she is, but you also want to be her,” Selon says with a laugh. A rose quartz crystal sits at Jennifer’s neck, and the chain imagery of her necklace hints at her status as a bound witch, unable to use magic.

Jennifer’s dress is also printed with gold foil symbols, each representing a different step or ingredient in the potion-making process. “It’s like she’s carrying a map or a menu of the elements that she uses in her potions,” Selon explains.

ALICE WU-GULLIVER (Ali Ahn)

Alice’s tough exterior hints at her history as a blood witch — as well as her mother’s rock ‘n’ roll persona. ‘She’s got all of the edge that a kid who grew up on the road would carry with her,” Selon says.

The heavy metal hardware and silhouette evoke protective armor, and Selon carefully sourced the perfect metallic fabric for Alice’s pants, searching for something steely and shiny but still flexible. The finishing touch is the protective amulet Alice wears around her neck — a gift from her mother.

RIO VIDAL (Aubrey Plaza)

For this look, Selon wanted to embrace the “mystery” around Plaza’s cryptic character, who has a long history with Agatha. As a green witch, Rio Vidal is closely attuned to nature, so Selon sought out materials to evoke the texture of bark or leaves. He points to the brown fabric that frames her open midriff, which echoes the trunk of a tree before stretching upwards into green leaves.

“You see it growing and coming up around her torso,” he says, “and then you see actual living things growing and rotting on her costume.”

Agatha All Along is now streaming on Disney+.