On the Set of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Chatting with Chloe Bennet & Costumes with Anne Foley! ~ #ABCTVEvent #AgentsofSHIELD

I received the following information as a blogger via Walt Disney Publications. While I attended an expense paid trip by Disney to the press events for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Monkey Kingdom, and Agents of SHIELD, all opinions are 100% my own. Photos included in this post provided by ABC.

Last month I posted here on the blog that I was lucky enough to visit the set of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.! We had the privilege to sit down with Iain De Caestecker (“Leo Fitz”), Elizabeth Henstridge (“Jemma Simmons”), Brett Dalton (“Grant Ward”), Henry Simmons (“Alphonso ‘Mack’ Mackenzie”) and Adrianne Palicki (“Bobbi Morse”). That wasn’t the only talent we met though! We encounter Chloe Bennet (“Skye”) and Anne Foley, the costume designer, while learning more about this show.

We were able to walk around set and see the S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters, the labs, the “hangout” room, the prison cell, as well as “The Bus.” The Bus is the team’s transportation which is actually based on the U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport plane. I asked one of the publicists if the show had any Department of Defense/military consultants on the show for when creating sets to ensure accuracy. He replied yes, and that they also use consultants on tactical training for the actors. How cool is that?

Photo Credit: (ABC/Adam Taylor)

Anne Foley, Costume Designer

During our set visit we had the pleasure of meeting costume designer Anne Foley! She even gave us a tour of the costume department. Finding the right wardrobe for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is more than picking out Agent Coulson’s next suit and finding tactical wear for the agents. The show really does have quite an amazing selection of heroes and villains that show up on the small screen each week… and it’s Anne job to visually bring that aspect of clothing and accessories to life.

Photo Credit: (ABC/Adam Taylor)

Anne showed us where she has vision boards for each of the six main characters up on the wall of the department. It was really cool to look at the individuality of each character. She explained that they were ideas she had at the beginning of last season to show the producers and even the cast. You can see that each one definitely has their own unique style. Every single person who is on the show, even if they have just one line, comes in for a fitting with Anne. She dresses them all!

Right by the vision boards, are the working closets, which are the clothes to be used for episodes. She noted how for season two of the show, the characters kind of “grew up” so the feel of the wardrobe was a little darker and edgier than season one.

Away from the vision boards and working closets are the permanent closets for each character. One of the first pieces we spotted in this “closet” was Mockingbird’s custom coat when she is first introduced. Very cool as they were right next to Hunter’s collection of leather jackets.

Photo Credit: (ABC/Adam Taylor)

When then went back into her work room where she builds a lot of the custom costumes for the show. You can seen examples in the above photo, such as Agent May’s silver dress. This is a custom piece that the costume design team created just for Ming-Na Wen’s character. Anne told us that there the costume team actually creates around 5 versions of the dress (which they only had a week to do!) for various scenes. For instance she had a “beautiful” one for regular shots, a “fighting one” where stretch panels were sewn into the side so it would be easy to do her moves in, and then another for Agent 33 to wear.

Raina is very much one of her favorite characters to dress! Anne loves to use floral prints for her dresses. Raina’s blue and black print dress seen above is one Anne’s favorite costumes on the show. Very often Anne works with the writers of the show to try to get into the character’s head when making color choices on costumes.

For Mockingbird’s costume and Skye’s new tactical outfit, the fabric and material that it is made with is much more flexible and breathable than it actually looks. The fabric is a four-way stretch that Anne prints on top of.

So how many outfits are actually custom made? Well really it depends on the episode. However Anne guesses about 30%. As for the other outfits? Luckily Anne enjoys shopping, as she is a HUGE online shopper! However she also has a great team of assistant shoppers to help her out.

Chloe Bennet

Photo Credit: (ABC/Florian Schneider)

We headed back into the studio to observe filming of scenes of an upcoming episode. While walking in the back of the set, we came upon Chloe Bennet and Luke Mitchell sitting in their final makeup / prop chairs, getting ready to film their scenes.

We couldn’t help but ask her how it feels to have super powers now! She noted that it is fun because all she has to do is lift her hand up and a gust of wind comes out (in TV footage), and it’s very dramatic. She likes using the “quake power” and loves how once the sound/special effects department “does their magic”, it looks awesome.

Chloe than adorably joked with Luke that “when we’re floating, when he makes me float… It’s like this. It just tingles. It’s a little awkward.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Scars

Check out this teaser for tonight’s episode…

Photo Credit: (ABC/Kelsey McNeal)

WAR TEARS SKYE APART, ON “MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.” ON ABC

Edward James Olmos Guest Stars as Robert Gonzales

“Scars” – Skye is torn between her loyalty to S.H.I.E.L.D. and her connection to the Inhumans as tensions rise between the groups — and Coulson reveals a secret he’s been hiding from even those closest to him, on “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” TUESDAY, MAY 5 (9:00-10:01 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” stars Clark Gregg as Director Phil Coulson, Ming-Na Wen as Agent Melinda May, Brett Dalton as Grant Ward, Chloe Bennet as Agent Skye, Iain De Caestecker as Agent Leo Fitz, Elizabeth Henstridge as Agent Jemma Simmons, Nick Blood as Lance Hunter and Adrianne Palicki as Bobbi Morse.

Guest starring are Henry Simmons as Alphonso “Mack” Mackenzie, Ruth Negga as Raina, Patton Oswalt as Sam/Billy Koenig, Kyle Maclachlan as Cal, Edward James Olmos as Robert Gonzales, Jamie Harris as Gordon, Christine Adams as Agent Weaver, Mark Allan Stewart as Agent Oliver, Maya Stojan as Kara/Agent 33, Dichen Lachman as Jiaying, Luke Mitchell as Lincoln Campbell, Alicia Vela-Bailey as Alisha, David Douglas as Michael and Crystal Coney as scientist.

”Scars” was written by Rafe Judkins & Lauren LeFranc and directed by Bobby Roth.

Photo Credit: (ABC/Kelsey McNeal)

Check out this clip from tonight’s episode!

You can connect with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Want a glimpse back on my trip to Los Angeles? Be sure to check out my Twitter (@AshBG) and Instagram (@ashb4211), and look for the hashtags #AvengersEvent, #MonkeyKingdom, #LAZoo, #ABCTVEvent, and #AgentsOfSHIELD.