Beth Morgan Interview: ‘GLOW’ costume designer

“We custom-make everything that goes in the ring,” Beth Morgan tells Gold Derby in an exclusive interview about designing the wrestling costumes on “GLOW” (watch the video above), for which she has received back-to-back nominations from the Costume Designers Guild Awards. She explains about working on the 1985-set dramedy for Netflix, “It’s not every day as a costume designer that you get the possibility to work on such an elaborate show that’s so fun and has so many different body types and so many different things that have to happen in the ring as far as stunts and mobility for all the girls.”

Morgan has submitted the second season finale for Best Period Costumes consideration at the Emmys this year, herself having been nominated in the defunct Best Series Costumes category for the debut season of “Deadwood” in 2004. She explains about her “GLOW” submission, “I was trying to think of one that not only showed the love of the work in the ring, but also the real life of these character. We spend a lot of time with them outside of the ring, so that was one I felt had a lot of both elements.”

Morgan also costumed the debut seasons of “The Conners” and “The Kominsky Method” this season. Although she says that “ ‘The Conners’ was really a fun experience,” she is not submitting her work for Emmy consideration on that show, so she will not face off against herself on the Best Contemporary Costumes ballot, where Netflix is submitting “The Kominsky Method.” “Alan Arkin was so fun to dress,” she recounts before elaborating, “He was very happy to look so polished and put-together as the agent, so it was a real joy to work with him because we got to just touch beautiful silk suiting and pick out these fabrics and we had a really great time.”