Vitals

Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein, baron and budding mad scientist

Edinburgh, Scotland, Fall 1855

Film: Frankenstein
Release Date: October 17, 2025
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Costume Designer: Kate Hawley

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

“I feel like, if I were around in the 1850s, this is how I would have dressed,” I commented to my wife, who just nodded with her characteristic patience when I say insane things. While she didn’t respond by telling me how much I look like Oscar Isaac (but was definitely thinking it, right? Right??), I was nonetheless intrigued by Kate Hawley’s deservedly Academy Award-nominated costume design in Guillermo del Toro’s 2025 retelling of Frankenstein, adapted from the famous 1818 novel by Mary Shelley, who died 175 years ago this week on February 1, 1851.

Director and screenwriter del Toro updated Shelley’s Romantic era setting to the 1850s, incorporating the medical advancements during the Crimean War into the context around Dr. Frankenstein’s experiments. We are introduced to the adult Frankenstein as he vehemently defends himself to a disciplinary tribunal for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh:

If we are to behave as immodestly as gods, we must—at the very least—deliver miracles, wouldn’t you say? Ignite a divine spark in these young students’ minds: teach them defiance rather than obedience!

Frankenstein premiered during the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on August 30, 2025—exactly 228 years after Shelley was born (and 34 years after my wife was born!) Hawley’s costume design was also awarded by the Academy Awards, Astra Film Awards, BAFTAs, Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, and the Chicago, Seattle, and St. Louis film critics societies.

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What’d He Wear?

Frankenstein was the third collaboration between costume designer Kate Hawley and director Guillermo del Toro, following their work on Pacific Rim (2013) and Crimson Peak (2015). Hawley explained in interviews that del Toro’s vision for Oscar Isaac’s dandyish wardrobe as Victor Frankenstein blended ’60s rock and the Romantic era with a twist of Hammer horror influences.

“When you look at the sixties… there’s the Carnaby Street reference, but the sort of velvet, Bohemian aristocrat keeps reinventing itself through different time periods,” she shared with Ryan McQuade for Awards Watch. “So, he could be Lord Byron, he could be Mick Jagger, he could be all of these things. And one of the starting places was one of the first scenes, not the one that you saw, but one of the first scenes we actually shot was the medical lecture theater. And Guillermo described him as David Bowie walking onto set like the Thin White Duke.”

Victor passionately demonstrates his vision to the college tribunal in shirt-sleeves—specifically the rolled-up, billowing sleeves of his generously cut white linen Byronic blouse, finished with frilly cuffs. The high, soft collar is shaped with a curved, always-open V-neck like a Regency era equivalent of the 20th century “Johnny collar”. Rakishly knotted loose and low to frame the shirt’s deep neckline, his wrinkled red silk neckerchief maintains the color that Hawley told Tara Maria Gonzalez “was so carefully chosen. Guillermo has specific tones of red that he uses.”

His black velvet single-breasted waistcoat has a shawl collar, trimmed in silvered thread that continues along the front edges and straight-cut waist hem. The two set-in hip pockets have asymmetrical flaps, with his watch tucked into the right pocket on a silver-toned chain worn “single Albert”-style with a fob hanging down.

Victor’s black wool flat-front trousers rise high to Oscar Isaac’s natural waist, where they’re held up by a set of thick black elasticized suspenders (braces) with black leather hooks connecting to pairs of buttons along the inside of the trouser waistband.

The plain-hemmed trouser bottoms fall over the tops of Victor’s smooth black calfskin leather boots with narrow chisel toes—tapered along the sides but finished with a squared-off front edge. The closed-lacing system is positioned higher on the shafts, above each instep.

After his virulent demonstration to the college tribunal, Victor dons a frock coat of dense black wool broadcloth. The coat’s subdued surface allows his red kerchief to punch more dramatically while also presenting a comparatively grounded appearance that contrasts against the brash black-and-white striped suit and burgundy velvet tailoring that Victor begins wearing after the nonstop funding from his scientific benefactor, Heinrich Harlander (Christoph Waltz).

The coat follows a romanticized 19th century profile: closely fitted through the chest and waist, then gently flared over the hips as the skirt falls to just above the knees. Princess seams curve from the armholes down the back, sculpting the coat tightly through the spine and waist before releasing over the hips. Decorated with two ornamental buttons over the rear waistband, the back skirts hang cleanly with a long single vent up to the waist. The set-in hip pockets are covered with asymmetrical flaps.

The unique lapels follow a double-stepped notch design, with the lower portion trimmed by black grosgrain edges, tapering to three covered buttons that Victor always wears open. The shoulders are narrow and bumped at the sleeve-heads, and the sleeves are finished with three small covered buttons above the narrow turnback (gauntlet) cuffs.

Victor wears a chunky filigreed gold signet ring on his left hand, detailed with the relief of the Frankenstein family crest against a blood-red enamel surface. The ring was designed by Andy Tsang for propmaster Chris Geggie and crafted by Toronto-based jeweler A. Marie Costumes; close-ups of the finished ring were posted on Instagram by @amariecostumes.

Victor wears an urban fedora-like variation of a slouch hat, characterized by one side “slouching” down while the other is pinned against the crown. Victor’s more formal black felt hat has a tall, pinch-front crown detailed with a wide black grosgrain band echoed by the trim along the brim’s edge.

Victor’s wine-red leather gloves were among the most intentional aspects of Hawley’s costume design, prompted by the flashback of Victor’s mother. “Her bloodstained hand becomes the bloodstain on Victor’s back … becomes the red gloves that he wears as a man.”

These flashbacks to Victor’s early years reflect that he dressed almost identically as a child (portrayed by Christian Convery), with black velvet tailoring, a white shirt with frilly cuffs and a dramatically tall open collar, and a red kerchief.

Once he gains access to Harlander’s “unlimited resources”, Victor adopts a more elaborate wardrobe from the brash black-and-white bold-striped jacket to his lush burgundy frock coat. He also wears an evolved version of this original look, swapping his black wool frock coat and matching trousers with a black velvet jacket and checked trousers.

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What to Imbibe

Milk. Don’t be weird about it.

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How to Get the Look

With influences ranging from Lord Byron and Mick Jagger to David Bowie and Rudolph Nureyev, Victor Frankenstein’s Regency-meets-rock star wardrobe is more rooted in art than science when we first meet him in 1855, rakishly sporting a red kerchief that breaks up his black-and-white sartorial profile with a swagger that balances elegance and danger.

• Black wool single-breasted frock coat with double-notch lapels, three covered front buttons, asymmetrical-flapped hip pockets, 3-button cuffs with narrow turnback flaps, and two decorative back buttons above long single vent
• Black velvet single-breasted waistcoat with silver-edged shawl collar and straight-cut bottom
• Black wool flat-front trousers with fitted waistband and plain-hemmed bottoms
• White linen Byronic blouse with curved open-neck collar and frilly cuffs
• Red silk neckerchief
• Black elasticized suspenders with black leather hooks
• Black leather plain chisel-toe boots with oxford-laced shafts
• Black felt slouch hat with wide black grosgrain band and edge-trim
• Gold family-crest signet ring
• Wine-red grain leather gloves

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Please check out the movie, currently streaming on Netflix. (“Please” always helps!)

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Sources

• Awards Watch — “Interview: Kate Hawley on Crafting the Meticulous Costume Design in ‘Frankenstein’ and the Joy of Collaborating with Guillermo del Toro” by Ryan McQuade
• The Credits — “How Frankenstein Costume Designer Kate Hawley on Dressing Men, Monsters, & Their Mothers” by Jack Giroux
• Cult Classic — “How to Dress a Monster, His Creator, and the Woman Who Loves Him” by Tara Maria Gonzalez
• ELLE — “How Frankenstein Costume Designer Kate Hawley Created the Movie’s Haunted World” by Veronique Hyland
• Harper’s Bazaar — “Inside the Making of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein Costumes” by Chelsey Sanchez
• IndieWire — “The Frankenstein Costumes Required an Effort Across Continents” by Sarah Shachat

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The Quote

I, on the other hand, fail to see why modesty is considered a virtue at all.