‘Murder at the End of the World’ Costume Designer Megan Gray on Making ‘The Hacker Hoodie’ Chic

Awards Daily talks to A Murder At The End of the World costume designer Megan Gray about fashion clues, hoodies, and why Darby is a little like Little Red Riding Hood.

Like Darby (Emma Corrin) and Bill (Harris Dickinson) on FX’s A Murder at The End of the World, costume designer Megan Gray and series co-creator Brit Marling go way back (though they didn’t solve murders together).

“The first film I worked on with her was actually I Origins, which was 10 years ago,” said Gray. “I’ve been in her universe for quite some time, which has been amazing both on- and off-screen.”

After coming on as a costuming assistant in the second season of The OA, Gray was really excited when she got the call for Murder, especially the prospect of getting to build an entire story.

“I Origins was quite small, and on the second season of The OA, I was an assistant, so this was the first time I was able to storytell with them in a way that was developing each character.”

Darby as Little Red Riding Hood

When we meet Darby in the first episode, she’s wearing a red-on-red blazer and hoodie combo. Gray said it was really important to Marling and co-creator Zal Batmanglij that Darby was represented in the color red.

“We had very strict color palettes in 2016 and 2023. In 2023, it was the colors of Iceland—blues, reds, dark greys, and black. It was written in the script that Darby was in a hoodie and basketball shorts, and that was something that was also really important to them, having that as a starting point and then making it a bit larger. The hoodie we found was this amazing vintage hoodie from the ’90s that was shrunken and had white stitching that was lived-in and falling apart, which felt a bit like Darby. The jacket is a vintage Jean Paul Gaultier that we found. There’s a level of, how would Darby want to be portrayed in a reading that feels grown-up and taken seriously? If they’re wearing basketball shorts, sneakers, and a hoodie and T-shirt, putting on a jacket presents themselves in a different way. The deepness of the red and the black-striped detail on the arm and how it’s not perfectly fit also shields Darby. Zal always referenced Little Red Riding Hood, and this woman who is taking on the world and telling her story, a sleuth who’s able to say the names of people who were murdered. I think having that image was something we really wanted to nail when we first meet Darby.”

Darby also manages to make the hoodie look so chic in that reading appearance. In fact, she makes hoodies look fashionable throughout the series. Gray said the hoodie is both a representation of Gen Z/hacker culture and also the way Darby sees the world.

“When you think of a hacker and Gen Z, they’re the first generation that had access to the internet. With hoodies, they cover themselves, so it’s weirdly blocking out the outside world. We had to find a way to string in hoodies throughout when we see her. She has one in 2016 and then in 2023; I think there are three total: the red, blue, and gray. Sometimes it’s down, showing that Darby is taking in what’s around her, and sometimes it’s up, when she wants to cover herself or get into the mindset of what she’s trying to figure out. We didn’t want to constantly have them up because I think there is that stereotype of hackers always having hoods. We wanted to play with things that people would identify and also not lean too hard into it so that it felt more organic to Darby’s character to have those pieces in her closet.”

How do you make a hacker like Darby look good at a fancy dinner? Gray said that while clothing matters to Darby, it’s not something she necessarily prioritizes in her life.

“Knowing that she had to find a way to fit in with these people, we started in 2016 knowing that Darby would be a big person who would thrift things, things that would feel real to her. She wouldn’t go to a store and buy new clothing. We wanted to play around with things that show a softness to Darby that you see in 2016, but in a more mature, grown-up space. [During the dinner scene] That blouse that hangs on Darby’s body shows her feminine physique but isn’t overtly sexy. The black sheer that she wears the night after Bill’s death with a red shoulder shows strength, with something sleuthish-punk about it. We wanted to find ways to make Darby fit in, but not that Darby would have changed the core things about herself to be there.”

There’s also a tattoo that’s visible beneath the dinner blouse.

“That tattoo,” said Gray. “You see it a few times, but you never get to see it up close. It’s something Darby would have gotten after Bill left her; it’s on her chest near her heart. it was important for Emma that we got to see it in that moment, so that’s why we made sure the shirt was low enough. When you see her in that sheer shirt, you get a glimpse of it.”

Fashion Easter Eggs

Fashion makes for clues in this mystery series, from silver earrings to even red shoelaces.

“Based on what was written in the script, I think what’s so beautiful what Brit and Zal do for their storytelling is to create little Easter eggs for fans along the way. In 2016, it’s about earrings, and then in 2023, it’s footwear. Why would Oliver who’s in a wheelchair have the tread of his sneakers worn down? It’s a bigger conversation of what shoes would these characters wear.”

Since Rohan the climatologist would be someone who wore the same boots over and over again, they looked for well-worn shoes and darkened the red on his laces to make them pop. For Oliver, they worked closely with actor Ryan J Haddad, who uses a walker in real life.

“Knowing that certain shoes need to be a bit wider, a bit more comfortable, learning that Oliver is someone who can walk, but not walk that far—we worked with Ryan to figure out how the tread would come down and his pattern of steps with walking. Everything needs to feel really grounded and real; that’s really important to Brit and Zal. All of the hacks are real. It needs to be something that really exists. I need to make sure that all of the aspects link back to what the reality of what it would be.”

A Murder at the End of the World airs on FX and streams on Hulu.