Sarah M. by Sarah Muhugusa

My capstone collection explores stories, how they evolve through time, and how they are shaped by our modern sensibilities. By looking at Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein through an adaptation lens, I research how a classic story gets adapted through time, and how with every adaptation, another layer gets added to the public consciousness. The story is no longer simply Shelley’s but rather an amalgamation of bits and pieces of all those that came before. Jumping off with the 2 iterations of the novel, the 1818 and 1831 versions, I integrate parts of the film adaptations such as Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) to make a point about stories in my capstone research and collection. In these film adaptations, fashion is used as a visual rendition of a character’s personality and arc previously explored through text. This project showcases a way in which fashion, like text, can be ‘read’. Additionally, like translations, the costumes can reflect the sociocultural context of its time. Thus, literary to film adaptations tend to be less about direct translation, but rather a transformation of the text to best fit its intended purposes. While both Frankenstein and his monster are mostly depicted as male throughout the Frankenstein canon, my fall/winter 2024 collection Stitched Up! is a 5-look contemporary/eveningwear womenswear collection.