I have already written about James Whale’s The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) in connection with Vera West’s work in a previous post that looked at the costume designer’s creations for the female characters in a few iconic horror films.
It’s actually worth taking another look at this movie since, though it celebrated its 75th anniversary last year, it is still influencing not only the vision of some horror directors, but also the moods and collections of different fashion designers.
The film – unanimously considered as a masterpiece from Universal’s Golden Age of horror – stars Boris Karloff as The Monster and Elsa Lanchester as Mary Shelley and the monster’s bride and has actually got a special poetic beauty about it.
The Bride of Frankenstein could indeed be interpreted as a tale of an outcast whose only desire is that of being accepted by society or as a story of rejection and love unfound.
Pathos and pity mix in the scary yet tragic and moving monster portrayed by Karloff, smiling one moment and looking menacing the next, symbolising the ambiguity of the human soul.
The interesting thing to notice in this film is that, while the horror genre is usually dominated by male performers, in this case the bride emerged in a strong and powerful way.
Frankenstein's fiancée's style created on the screen with the help of make up artist Jack Pierce, was a combination of Nefertiti’s look, form-fitting bandages and West's early forays into the world of Haute Couture.
It was in fact an irresistible mix of beauty and horror, Eros and Thanatos, of something attractive and repulsive at the same time.
Bizarrely, as much as implausible the story and the bride’s look can be, you don’t really feel like shaking your head while watching this film, but often surprise yourself thinking ‘Would it be possible to recreate that in ready-to-wear?’
In the last few years death, graveyards and underground crypts have turned into the main inspirations for different fashion designers: we have seen Alexander McQueen turning into a bone collector; the memento mori theme being explored in menswear and Haute Couture and the death-in-life theme being exploited on Mugler’s menswear runway.
Bandages often reappeared in fashion: at times during catwalk shows (S/S 2001) and presentations (A/W 2010-11) the heads of McQueen’s models were bandaged; Raf Simons included in his Autumn/Winter 2008-09 menswear collection tight jumpers referencing skin and body that seemed to be a sort of blend of underwear and mummy-look (View this photo), while Spanish fashion brand Martin Lamothe recently came up with a nude tulle mini-dress with copper and metal chain appliqués (View this photo) slightly reminiscent of a mummy or the bride’s bandaged body revealed by Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and Doctor Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) in the film.
The latest recreation of The Bride of Frankenstein style could be spotted in Alex Noble’s debut collection showcased in February during London fashion Week.
Noble was actually among the artists who took part in January in Selfridges’ “Bright Young Things” project (View this photo) and Lady Gaga is among the celebrities who recently donned his creations.
Entitled “Soft Death”, Noble’s collection focuses more on Haute Couture than on ready-to-wear and references a lot Alexander McQueen especially in the frayed lace motifs covering some of the dresses and in the fascination of this young designer for creations inspired by body parts with jewel encrusted ribcages and appliquéd cotton pieces forming a skeleton (à la Schiaparelli) or tracing patterns of blue glittery veins on a sheer bodysuit.
The collection also included one couture gown with a bodice made up of tight strips of nude and yellowish silk fabric and a tulle skirt. When Noble showcased the collection the dress was worn by a model with a bandaged head and the design looked a bit like a crossover between some of the creations from Alexander McQueen’s "Voss" collection (S/S 2001) and Elsa Lanchester's costume in The Bride of Frankenstein.
In a way this design makes me think about the ambiguities of fashion and its attraction to beauty, glamour, death and deathliness, but also brings to mind the monster’s classic lines of dialogue in Whale's film, such as “We belong dead”.
For further inspirations I’m embedding here an extract from a documentary about the making of The Bride of Frankenstein that also mentions the make up and costumes from this film.
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