Not only was \u201cFrankenstein\u201d perhaps one of the most anticipated films to drop\u2014a monster-sized ambition, not to mention a brave adaptation of Mary Shelley\u2019s classic 1818 novel\u2014it\u2019s an achievement by the master of the macabre, Guillermo del Toro. But the fashion that also dropped was something we weren\u2019t ready for. Acclaimed costume designer Kate Hawley was tapped again by del Toro to scientifically and meticulously craft the gothic Victorian aesthetic for the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arguably one of the most striking scenes in the film comes at a telling moment of a young Victor Frankenstein. His mother\u2014also played by actress Mia Goth\u2014is seen bidding farewell to his father on the steps of Frankenstein Manor. A blood-red bustle gown with a simple yet overly dramatic silk veil draped over the young mother\u2019s face was a cinematic achievement only fashion could achieve. The blood-red color would be threaded throughout the entire film; for Victor Frankenstein in his adulthood, red would be seen in some form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the introduction of Elizabeth, the love interest of both Frankenstein and his monster\u2014played by Goth also\u2014deep greens, violets and floral-filled bonnets perfectly frame the face in a ghostly crown of a saint who finds herself between two worlds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe veils! That\u2019s a bigger moment. And in other moments, you need to pull it back so the focus can be on something smaller, otherwise it\u2019d take you out of the story. The color palette is key to that. For instance, Harlander [Victor\u2019s wealthy patron played by Christoph Waltz] has his color palette. But then you have Elizabeth, and she keeps shifting. It\u2019s like a metamorphosis,\u201d Kate Hawley told British Vogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elizabeth\u2019s fascination with the monster continues to be told through the fashion\u2014a deeply thought-provoking character whose presence at times on screen was only the rich, lustrous costume she was placed in. A subtle yet overpowering statement of wardrobe instead of words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The jewels were yet another detail of del Toro\u2019s \u201cFrankenstein\u201d that can\u2019t be overlooked. Tiffany & Company provided rare archival pieces to be adorned by Goth in the film, archival pieces that were not your usual Tiffany-Esque designs. One choker of meticulously carved emerald beetles worn by Goth, provided just enough macabre with a pinch of glamour for the scene. It quietly presents itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe partnered with Tiffany on the jewelry and I went to their archives. In their collection from over the last 200 years, there are echoes to Mary Shelley\u2019s world and the Age of Enlightenment, and then you have the Victorian period \u2013 in the 1850s, Tiffany was creating surgical instruments for the Civil War, and it was an age of modernism. So, you have the old-world styles of Charles Lewis Tiffany, and then his son, Louis Comfort Tiffany, who comes in and rewrites the rulebook with much less traditional and more artistic, glass styles. The blue beetle necklace Elizabeth wears is a unique Louis Comfort Tiffany piece from the early 1900s,\u201d Hawley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The men of the film are also not without their moment. Frankenstein\u2019s monster, played by Jacob Elordi, after a brush with wolves, particularly creates a tattered fur coat, accentuating his monstrous shoulders but providing a warm, heartbreaking thought: the wolves used to create the fur killed the only companion in the film he had ever known.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In literature and film lore, Frankenstein\u2019s search for a companion is a catalyst to the plot of the novel and now this new adaptation\u2014for what would Frankenstein\u2019s monster be without his bride, a homage at the centerpiece of the film. Mia Goth presents herself in a wedding dress at the film\u2019s peak, the dress completely made of silk-satin bandages in virginal white, in a tribute <\/p>\n\n\n\n
to the Bride of Frankenstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The film, now streaming on Netflix, is perhaps at the head of the Oscar race thus far. Although a departure from the original narrative of the novel, its overarching themes stay the same, and its dramatic dressing will no doubt earn a nomination for Best Costume. This film is a reminder that costume design is at times one of the most important pieces, highlighting cinematic narrative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Captivating, Victorian pieces buzz audiences Not only was \u201cFrankenstein\u201d perhaps one of the most anticipated films to drop\u2014a monster-sized ambition, not to mention a brave… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":11972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[307],"class_list":["post-11971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"aioseo_notices":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"","source_text":"","source_url":""},"authors":[{"term_id":307,"user_id":138,"is_guest":0,"slug":"sean-charles","display_name":"Sean Charles","avatar_url":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/c5632879f99ad0206cb0d302b941165f.jpg?ver=1778637593","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11971"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11973,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11971\/revisions\/11973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11971"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=11971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}