While the delightfully macabre Showtime series Penny Dreadful lasted only three seasons, the haunting beauty of its elegantly dressed ladies and gentlemen still clings to us like a lost spirit unable to cross over. The show followed a group of uniquely-skilled individuals all residing in 19th century London as they tracked down the strange and supernatural in its foggy streets and sordid sewers. Its lead costume designer was Gabriella Pescucci, who won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design for another beautiful period piece, Martin Scorsese’s Age of Innocence in 1992.
It took a team of dozens of Italian cutters and sewers to create 200-400 original costumes for Penny Dreadful, many of which were inspired by French impressionist painters of the Victorian Era. Each costume was tailored to the character and the arc of their storyline over three seasons, blending real antique garments by Charles Frederick Worth and Emile Pingat with custom designs, resulting in an unforgettable aesthetic. Below you’ll find the 10 best costumes worn in Penny Dreadful, which you can currently relive on Netflix.
VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN
The brilliant and ambitious Victor Frankenstein, a scientist obsessed with making malleable the rules that govern life and death, is one of the main characters on Penny Dreadful. He creates life by reanimating a corpse, but doesn’t seem to have worked out what’s supposed to happen after he’s played father to his creation.
Victor is not a wealthy man, so it was important for his costumes to be less handsome than the fashionable Sir Malcolm Murray or Dorian Gray. Victor also doesn’t pay much attention to the latest fashion due to his obsession with his research, so Gabriella Pescucci purposefully gave his garments a more threadbare look.
SEMBENE
Sembene, the stoic Senegalese confidant and bodyguard of Sir Malcolm Murray, cultivated an aura of mystery on the series. Though he was economic in his words with others, his bond with Sir Malcolm allowed him freedom to air grievances or offer advice. He was exceptionally accomplished in hand-to-hand combat and baking buttercream tortes.
Sembene wore many hats, as a bodyguard, manservant, chauffeur, doorman, and assassin; as such, his costumes often changed. But what always remained were the ritual scars across both his cheeks, from another lifetime when he was a slave trader.
SIR MALCOLM
A vainglorious British explorer primarily of the African continent, Sir Malcolm Murray valued collecting hidden treasures and artifacts over spending time with his family. What began with infidelity to his wife soon snowballed into his son’s death, and finally, his daughter Mina’s sudden disappearance.
Sir Malcolm creates a team to track her down, and as an experienced man of the world, he dresses for every occasion and environment. His clothing both denotes a man of status and of unique interests. He wears the latest fashion of the time period, but with little details that are a nod to his travels, such as a bone tie pin or fur-collared coat.
BRONA CROFT
While Brona Croft appears to be just one of hundreds of lonely, impoverished prostitutes living in London when Ethan Chandler meets her, her plucky demeanor and rapier Irish wit keep her relatively cheerful. Though she’s had a hard life, full of sickness and the death of her baby daughter, she finds comfort in her days with Ethan.
Despite her lowly status in the series, what’s immediately apparent about Brona is the liveliness of her clothing. Though it wouldn’t have denoted any style in the era, her slap-dash assortment of thrown-together outfits give a very bohemian vibe, and conveys the irrepressible nature of her spirit.
THE CREATURE
Based on Frankenstein’s Monster, the iconic villain in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein novel, The Creature was the fruit of Dr. Victor Frankenstein’s obsessive labors with defying death. The creature was the reanimated corpse of a man whom Frankenstein brought back to life, only to be quickly acquainted with the merciless nature of humankind.
His costume and makeup were specifically designed to match his description in the book, in which he has shoulder-length black hair, yellow eyes, and all manner of surgical scars from where he was stitched together. His black coat evokes some of the theatricality he demonstrates throughout the seasons, but doesn’t change like other characters’ costumes, suggesting the stagnation he feels at being stuck in torment in the land of mortals.
ETHAN CHANDLER (WEREWOLF)
As an American sharpshooter performing in popular Wild West shows of the late 19th century, where once great heroes of the rapidly shrinking and modernizing Old West entertained tourists, Ethan Chandler wore fairly standard livery for the era (with the exception of his colorful stage clothing).
His salt-of-the-earth garments contrast sharply with the cloying sophistication of the British upper class, whose circles he dwells in once he’s engaged by Sir Malcolm Murray. When it’s revealed he comes from a line of shapeshifters and his inner beast comes out, the prosthetics are not only realistic, but incorporate themselves nicely with his clothing, giving the entire appearance a lived-in and authentic look.
FERDINAND LYLE
Surrounded by the wonders of the world’s cultures, it’s no wonder that Ferdinand Lyle, curator of the British Museum, dresses in such a pastiche of styles. A collector of oddities like his friend Sir Malcolm, it’s not at all surprising that his clothing would be as eccentric as his collections.
“Mischief is best enacted in small groups at very close quarters,” he explains memorably in an episode, which indicates the sort of wry humor that informed his style of dress. Gabriella Pescucci was said to have the most fun with Mr. Lyle’s costuming, because even though he was a secondary character, his clothes made him memorable and impactful.
DORIAN GRAY
Another icon of horror featured in the series alongside Frankenstein’s Monster, Dracula, and Dr. Jekyll, is Dorian Gray. A handsome and debonair aristocrat, he has too much money and all the time in the world to spend it. A portrait made by a pact with the Devil allows him to remain young forever as long as no harm befalls it.
Gabriella Pescucci chose to convey Gray’s status as a member of the London elite, but with a degree of eccentricity that sets him apart from it. The sultry fabrics of his clothes, and the devil-may-care way in which he swaggered around in them, made his costumes a standout in the series.
LILY FRANKENSTEIN
Lily Frankenstein is one of many passionate and tortured characters in Penny Dreadful. Based on the iconic Bride of Frankenstein, she was intended to be a mate for Victor Frankenstein’s Creature, but the maestro fell in love with his muse. Possessing the powers of an immortal, however, quickly sours her to any bucolic life with Victor, and turns her attention on Dorian Gray.
From the moment her dead identity of Brona Croft gave way to the birth of Lily Frankenstein, her entire persona changed, and so did her wardrobe. Where once she was an impoverished prostitute in fear of men, she was now an emboldened aristocrat, whose presentation was that of a dominating villainess.
VANESSA IVES
Arguably one of the most arresting characters of the entire sordid cast, Vanessa Ives was the product of a harsh life. Her gift of clairvoyance cost her close connections to her family (who locked her in an insane asylum), and turned her into the guarded, cautious, calculating woman she appeared to be on the show.
It would be impossible to pick one costume to represent Ms. Ives, as she got so many fabulous examples throughout the series. Gabriella Pescucci often clothed her in black, which wasn’t only for mourning, but to be practical, allowing her personal complexity to shine through. The silk damask, lace jabeaux’s, delicate netting and glass beads that adorned her were all either handmade using Victorian pattern books, or real antique pieces.
