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Wren Ferguson 5/1/2023
Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Emily VanCamp, Jeremey Renner, Hailee Steinfeld, Florence Pugh, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, and even Patrick Stewart. These are all people Michael Crow has collaborated with in the last few years. I recently got the opportunity to talk to this one-of-a-kind costume designer because my mom was best friends with him in college.
Michael Crow, a costume designer from L.A., has had some interesting experiences. He was the assistant designer for Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. Most recently, he has been the costume designer for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, and Star Trek: Picard season 3. Michael is also the costume designer for the upcoming Christmas movie, Red One, starring Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, and J.K. Simmons.
Michael was the costume designer for Falcon and The Winter Soldier. This is one of the fabulous costumes his team created. (Zemo's Costume)
Michael grew his love for costume design while he was in college (University of Evansville, in Indiana) as a performance major. “While I was there when I was not in a production, I was working backstage. Doing costumes and sets.” Michael explains. He would do whatever he could to learn the ins and outs of theater. This lead him to decide not to become an actor, but to become someone in costume and sets. After college, he went to graduate school at Brandeis University, in Boston, (a division of a university offering advanced programs) which geared him toward costume rather than sets.
After graduate school, and some moving around the country, he finally landed in LA. Because of L.A.’s unions, he could only interview for some jobs. “I was going and interviewing for jobs and competing with people who were just out of high school,” says Michael, “I’ve had good opportunities due to going to school that otherwise, I would not have. I mean, I meet my husband because I was visiting someone I meet in grad school.” Eventually, he got a job as an assistant costume designer. This led him to get to work on things like Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Endgame.
“Most days I get to go play make-believe,” says Michael Crow
The Falcon's Captain America Suit is another iconic costume from Falcon and The Winter Soldier that Michael's team created.
Then, the fun started. Streaming was getting so popular, that there were not enough costume designers. The companies started promoting the assistant costume designers that they believed in. “If that hadn’t happened, at that time, I might still be assistant designing,” Michael describes.
Since then, Michael has been busy at work. He worked on The Falcon and Winter Soldier and Hawkeye with no time in between. After that, he was the associate designer for The Grey Man. And then, he jumped right into the third season of Star Trek: Picard. That is about two years of work without any breaks. “So after Star Trek, I wanted to take like two months off. It turned into four months,” Michael said. Right now, Michael is currently on a couple-month break after his latest film.
Michael has been given amazing opportunities so far in his life. This is what he would like to say to kids interested in costume design in the future, “Follow your dreams and learn as much as you can. People take different paths to get to this. If you love fashion, study fashion. If you love historical costume, even if it’s like Renaissance fairs or cosplay Do it, love it. Find the things that bring you joy. Also, read. Love stories. At the end of the day, the whole film industry is all about telling stories and bringing characters to life, whether you are an actor, a costume designer, or a set designer. Watch the shows that you love and find out the people that make them.”
This is a link to a video made about Michael Crow.
Contributor Bio:
Wren Ferguson is a 7th grader at EJHS schools. She is a proud Slytherin and a huge Potterhead. She enjoys Math, Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, Journaling, Media Production, Robotics, and clogging.
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