Copyright Variety
Guillermo del Toro reunited with “Crimson Peak” costume designer Kate Hawley to help bring the look of “Frankenstein” to life. When Hawley got the call, as a lover of the romantics and former art history student, the first thing she did was leap back into the pages of the book. But Hawley admits, “Knowing that we were going on the journey with Guillermo meant a whole lot of wonderful things: trepidation as well as excitement.” “Frankenstein” stars Oscar Isaac as a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a Creature (Jacob Elordi) to life in an experiment as he tries to conquer death. It’s an experiment that leads to his undoing, and begs the question, who is the monster? Mia Goth also stars as Elizabeth. Ralph Ineson is Professor Krempe and Chrstoph Watlz plays Harlander. The cast also includes Felix Kammerer, Lars Mikkelsen, David Bradley, Christian Covery and Charles Dance, who plays Victor’s father. The film is set firmly during the Crimean War in the 1850s. Hawley says del Toro was “very clear that he wanted this world to be bigger and larger than normal.” Here, Hawley breaks down the character looks she created. Victor Frankenstein When it came to crafting his looks, del Toro had no shortage of references for Hawley. “There were a lot that we discussed. There were the more contemporary references of David Bowie, and Oscar, who mentioned Prince.” The initial childhood of Victor Frankenstein lends itself more to that age of enlightenment. Hawley says, “It’s definitely a nod more to the world and time period of Mary Shelley herself.” When the film hits the 1850s, Hawley says there was a broader sweep of the period. del Toro was clear he didn’t want a historical film with “lots of black top hats. I want a modern sensibility which is very much what was happening during the war in terms of technology and the time.” Additionally, Hawley looked at Lord Bryon, “He’s an artist finding his muse. He’s not a scientist in the way that we traditionally know it, this is art that he’s building. We looked at all those references with bohemian irreverence and the way he wears his clothes.” Victor comes from the aristocracy. When audiences first see him, he’s presenting his invention in a theater. Hawley wanted to tell a story about the thick velvet he wears, but also show that a period of time had passed. “The velvets are old and worn. There’s a story being told of someone who’s sort of run out of money at this point, but he still has these lovely garments left over.” As he gives his presentation, he meets Harlander, and the two begin a courtship. Frankenstein enjoys the money. “His clothes become more flamboyant,” says Hawley. Elizabeth’s Wedding Dress Hawley knew the importance of Elizabeth’s wedding dress. She links the entire story together. In crafting the character’s arc, Hawley says it was one of the first things she created. “It had its own pressures,” Hawley admits, knowing there would be the history of Frankenstein’s bride, but also having to make the dress work within the confines of the Victorian world. Elizabeth’s wedding to Victor’s brother, William, comes towards the final act of the film. By this point, she has formed a bond with the Creature. To reflect that, Hawley notes, “Elizabeth’s clothes in this stage in particular start echoing the world of the Creature more than the other world.” The bodice was the Swiss style of the time, with boning and a pointed bottom, while the ribbons on the arms and corsetry “suggest the skeletal components of the Creature itself.” Hawley adds, “We’re going back to the anatomical language.” All of Elizabeth’s gowns are tied to botany and the natural world. Her blue dress was based on the form of an X-ray. “We developed (an x-ray) as a print that also suggests a bit of the Victorian damask but feels part of the world and anatomy that we use a lot within patterns, textures and motifs.” It took a few months for Hawley and her team to put together because it was going to be used for a nighttime scene. “We had to do a huge amount of work within the layers to keep the saturation of blue that Guillermo wanted.” For Hawley, the dress evokes the ephemeral, ethereal nature of Elizabeth. As for the fabric, she confirms “there were at least 60 meters in the skirt.” Parternship with Tiffany’s Hawley calls it her personal fairy tale. In crafting Elizabeth’s jewelry, the company invited her to go behind the doors of the Tiffany archive. Hawley worked with the company to pull pieces from the company’s 200 year old history. Among the items were the Wade Necklace, worn by Elizabeth, with over 40 carats of diamonds, and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Scarab necklace. “This huge, wonderful resource became available to us, and all the language of these elements started fitting our storyline.” The Creature The Creature goes through an evolution. When he wakes up after the lab explosion, one of the first items he retrieves is a coat from the the burial ground of a Crimean War soldier. Hawley says, “As he goes through his travels and as he experiences warmth and love, he’s a constant, evolving metamorphosis in clothing alone.” When audiences first sees him, Hawley describes him as a “naked child underneath.” And so she started from the inside out, echoing what prosthetics artist Mike Hill was doing in his sculpting. “My job was to echo it and to keep the value of the Creature coming through the clothes. So when he picks the coat up off the skeleton, the imprint of the other man is still there.” She adds, “I thought that was such a beautiful image, having the imprint or the memory of another body, given that the Creature is made up of other bodies, it was a motif.” Watch the video above.
