How The Last of Us's Costume Designer Landed Her Big Break

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Ann Foley never intended to become a costume designer. "I sort of fell into it by accident," she says. "I was majoring in fashion merchandising. I grew up in Georgia, so I went to school at Georgia Southern University."

While in college, Foley went with her boyfriend at the time to a movie set where he was working as a PA. "My boyfriend at the time took me to set. He was a PA on a movie that was shooting in Savannah. I thought, "Oh, my God, this is amazing," Foley says. She then moved to L.A. with $500, and the rest is history.

Since that move, Foley has gone on to work on projects like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Altered Carbon. More recently, she was the costume designer on season 2 of The Last of Us.

On the latest episode of The Who What Wear Podcast, Foley shares how she got her start in the entertainment industry, how she started working on The Last of Us, and more.

For excerpts from their conversation, scroll below.

How did you get into costume design to begin with, and start this career?

I sort of fell into it by accident. I was majoring in fashion merchandising. I grew up in Georgia, so I went to school at Georgia Southern University.

My boyfriend at the time took me to set. He was a PA on a movie that was shooting in Savannah. I thought, Oh, my God, this is amazing.

Then I saw the costume designer, who was Julie Weiss, who's a legend in our business. I didn't even know costume design was something you could do.

That's when I told my mom, "You know what? I think I'm not gonna go work at The Limited—even though The Limited is great—I'm gonna go to L.A. and try to be a costume designer."

I moved to L.A. with $500 and one phone number, who was Aggie Rogers, who was a family friend. She introduced me to Hope Hannifin, who was her assistant on a previous film, and this was Hope's first movie.

So it was my first movie, it was Hope's first movie, and so we just jumped in together.

Since then, you've obviously spent a ton of your career on some really fun projects in the superhero genre, like Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and She-Hulk for Disney+. I'd love to know what draws you to those types of worlds from a costume design perspective.

It's about world-building, and I really love that. Even back in my assistant design days, when I was working with costume designers like Ellen Mirojnick and Michael Kaplan and Betsy Heimann, and Marlene Stewart, they all were always drawn to world-building projects. I learned so many interesting things from each one of them.

As I started designing, I definitely did find myself in this sci-fi lane, which I'm not gonna lie, I really kind of love.

Then it started into world-building, like with Altered Carbon, which was an amazing design experience.

One of the things I've always loved about television is that it keeps you on your toes, for sure, especially with a show like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., where you're doing 22 episodes a season. Every eight days is a new episode.

And you're prepping one episode as you're shooting another. It becomes this crazy hamster wheel, and it teaches you how to shift and pivot on a dime, how to just move forward and not doubt yourself, and just believe in what you're doing.

Can you tell me about how you got involved with The Last of Us?

I was a huge fan of the show before I even got the call to come in to interview. Sort of like you, I was never into video games. I knew about the show. It was definitely on my radar, but I had just gotten back from Australia on a show, and I had the worst jet lag, so I was up all night. I just binged the entire season in one sitting, and it was just incredible. I was so blown away by the beauty of it and the Joel and Ellie relationship, specifically. When I got the call, I just jumped at it.

What was even more interesting about doing the second season for me was that it was five years later, so I wasn't necessarily tied into what happened in season one.

This was a completely new world that we were gonna get to see, and Ellie is now 19. Instead of a 14-year-old kid, now Ellie is a 19-year-old woman. Even Joel. There's subtle little changes that we got to do with Joel, like something as simple as just tucking his shirt in and presenting himself more like his brother, because he's also a pillar of the community.

We really got to see Jackson this season, and really going into Jackson and meeting that community. This was all stuff that drew me in.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.