Poor Things’ Victorian-Style Fashion Shows A Beautiful Side To The Frankenstein Tale

Warning: Minor spoilers for Poor Things ahead.

While we’ve come to associate the visuals of Frankenstein with ugliness, when it comes to costumes in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things — a quasi-Frankenstein tale based on the ‘90s novel of the same name — they are anything but horrid. The technicolor 19th-century fashion featured throughout the film — out now —  paints a much brighter picture than what you imagine from a story that begins with a woman undergoing a brain transplant experiment following her attempt to take her own life.

We first meet the childlike protagonist, Bella Baxter (played by Emma Stone), while wearing a grandiose, voluminous top with bloomers (which she later wears with a quilted lobster-like skirt) inside her house. These outfits exemplify the fashion in Poor Things, which offers a modern take on late 19th-century fashion. “[Lanthimos] didn't want me to do a period drama,” says costume designer Holly Waddington. Her research started by looking at the 1890s — when, for example, “massive sleeves”  were the trend of the moment — and then re-imagining them to fit the fantastical plotline. “I was using Victorian shapes and then I was finding other ways to interpret rich textures, which for me needed to feel animal and unruly and organic,” says Waddington. 

The somewhat leisurely outfits soon turn into vibrant, adventure-ready outfits, that reflect Bella’s unbound curiosity and imagination, as she leaves the comfort of the only home she’s ever known and gets introduced to the outside world. From then on, it’s an explosion of bold colours and frothy silhouettes that sometimes look straight out of a fashion blogger’s street style photos. There is a ruffled white top and yellow shorts ensemble, which Bella pairs with tiny black sunglasses, a blue cropped jacket, and booties; and a white ruffled top with an ethereal, see-through pink skirt. As Bella is exposed to more things in her travels, her outfits gain layers, too: When she is first introduced to poverty, she becomes aware of her high-class status while wearing a Victorian white puff-sleeve gown. 

But Waddington did use some traditional styles in the film, particularly for the men — like Godwin Baxter, the doctor who conducted the experiment on Bella and whom she calls “God,” played by Willem Defoe — who wear mostly sober colours and silhouettes that are more in line with the late 19th century. This way they serve as a stark contrast to Bella’s childlike awe. “She's not saddled with the years of being part of the world and being brainwashed,” Waddington explains. “There's an impulsive quality to her, so I really liked the idea that the clothes would be effortless.”

Even when Bella is behaving according to the norms set by social institutions at the time — school and marriage — she does it dressed in unorthodox fashion. One of the strongest looks in the film comes during the wedding ceremony when Bella is dressed in a poofy white gown with a veil placed on the bottom half of her face. Waddington says she wrestled with the idea of Bella wearing a veil for days because it’s such a traditional item of wardrobe: “She wouldn't wear this thing, it's ridiculous.” Ultimately, Waddington decided to tie in around Stone’s face, which ended up being the actor’s favourite look from the film. 

Throughout the movie, we also get to know Bella’s prior life — one marked by the patriarchal conventions of the time — that she attempts to escape. To symbolise the heaviness and entrapment that the character felt, Waddington borrowed looks from a fashion photography in 19th-century: a bold blue gown with a traditional coat and an armour-style copper dress with gold detailing. “What I was looking for was a stark contrast [to the looks she wears post-experiment],” Waddington says. “They’re heavy, they’re beautiful, they’re serious and they’re loaded.”

As twisted as Poor Things is — my head was spinning by the end — there’s a relatability in both the story and the fashion that’s exhibited in the final moments of the film. Bella gets to be herself, freed from the expectations of Victorian society. And she’s dressed to match — in a cream knit sweater and copper maxi skirt. “They’re just clothes at this point,” says Waddington. “I just wanted it to be like she just found herself, she knows who she is.”

Poor Things is showing in theatres around Australia.