How the Frankenstein Costume Designer Brought the Film to Life

Welcome to TheWho What Wear Podcast. Think of it as your direct line to the designers, stylists, beauty experts, editors, and tastemakers who are shaping the fashion-and-beauty world. Subscribe to TheWho What Wear Podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

For Frankenstein costume designer Kate Hawley, meeting Guillermo del Toro while working on a project in New Zealand was meant to be. "He'd basically just looked at all my books, and I had this wonderful collection of horrors," Hawley said. "He just said, 'We can communicate. We understand each other. We have the same books. We can work together.'" And the rest is history.

Since that chance encounter, Hawley has worked with del Toro on everything from Pacific Rim to Crimson Peak. Now, Hawley is collaborating with del Toro again with his take on Frankenstein for Netflix.

On the latest episode of The Who What Wear Podcast, Hawley shares what it was like meeting del Toro for the first time, the role color plays in designing the costumes for the film, and more. For excerpts from their conversation, scroll below.

I'd love to hear a little bit about how you guys first connected.

He was in New Zealand, and he was having meetings with Peter Jackson about The Hobbit. Peter had me sort of scuttled in the corridor somewhere. I was sort of like Miss Havisham working there on another project. Peter walked in, and behind him was Guillermo . They just stood around and chatted, and we were talking about work, and Guillermo looked at my bookshelf, and it's one moment that really sat with me.

It wasn't about me showing my work or trying to sort of do a tap dance around that. He'd basically just looked at all my books, and I had this wonderful collection of horrors. He just said, "We can communicate. We understand each other. We have the same books. We can work together." That was the biggest takeaway from that.