Bram Stoker's Dracula versus URO
When it came to dressing the characters in Bram Stoker's Dracula, Coppola gave Ishioka very clear instructions: "the costumes will be the set; the set will be the light."
It was the first time this mythical character was presented far from the dark and stereotypical image we had seen until then, bringing light and color to the Count's attire. The costume designer used it to convey the emotions of each character, full of color and symbolism.
The film begins by showing Vlad the Impaler, a knight of the Order of the Dragon, heading to the battlefield to fight the Turks. While he is in the midst of the battle, Elisabetta, his fiancée, receives false news about the Count's death and commits suicide. In this scene, the character wears a dress with gold thread embroidery, which reflects the aristocratic air of the lady and links her to her beloved with the embroidered dragon figure on the chest of the dress.
The applications on the front of the Diácono jacket are inspired by this embroidery, because, as you know, we at the house are lovers of symmetry.
When Vlad returns and learns of Mina's death, he renounces God and swears revenge with the force of darkness. Coppola wanted to shock the audience with the first on-screen appearance of Count Dracula as Vlad, so Ishioka created a red armor that has the appearance of human musculature, alluding to the macabre torture techniques used by Vlad on his enemies. He wears a wolf-head helmet, in an attempt to unify man and beast. This armor inspired one of Uro's jackets, but it is not the only garment inspired by the film's costumes, as you have seen and will see.
The clothing will always provide information to the viewer to know where the characters are at all times and their attitude, since the story takes place between Transylvania and London. A clear example is the clothing used by the characters of Mina and Lucy in London. Both with voluminous costumes, in which Mina's sweet and fresh appearance is reflected in a sea-green dress, in contrast to the buttoned corset bodice and the stiffness of the high collar, which gives us information about her obedient and repressed character. This garment serves as inspiration for Mina, our jacket made of black fabric with gold leaf embroidery, which you can see in more detail here and which could not have had any other name.
However, for Lucy, she chooses loose and low-cut clothing, with large embroideries, denoting her boldness and daring. Her frivolous and lascivious attitude is clearly seen in the scene where the party is held at the Westenra house, in which Lucy flirts with several gentlemen, a behavior that is reinforced by the look created by Ishioka for that moment: a dress with a deep neckline, made in cool tones, adorned with intertwined snakes representing lust.
These serpents have also inspired some of the applications that embellish and enrich some of Uro's garments, such as the Extre Mercer jacket, which features a serpent wrapped around a heart on its pockets, because you know that the plot of this film is a great love story.
The Monuro dress also features serpents, this time on the chest, coiled around the sword of the Order of the Dragon.
The first time we see the imposing figure of Count Dracula, it is reinforced by a deep red tunic, with a long train that resembles a sea of blood in the darkness reigning in the castle hall where he receives Jonathan Harker, Mina's fiancé. Eiko combines oriental and occidental styles in this garment, through the pattern of the clothing and the dragon embroidery located on the front. Now you know what inspired the look that closed Uro's fashion show.
Another of the film's climactic moments is when Jonathan, confined to the castle and somewhat annoyed by the arrival of boxes full of earth transported by gypsies, ventures into the underground and sees Dracula appear in a marvelous golden tunic, inspired by the paintings of Gustav Klimt, a painter characterized by conveying the triumph of light over darkness through his work, represented here in Dracula's infinite love for his beloved.
Gold is one of the dominant colors in Uro's palette, and in case you didn't know, it's our corporate color, even though many people think it's magenta. It is very present in this collection: buttons, brocades, prints, ribbons...
And above all in the embroideries, such as those on the Corona suit, one of the hits of the season, where the crowns on the Cortes Corona jacket and the Col Corona trousers are proudly embroidered in Spain.
And it's not just the costumes created by Eiko Ishioka that inspire Uro. There are scenes from the film that have served as inspiration for some of our jackets. Do you remember that moment when Count Dracula, appearing as the Prince of Transylvania, turns Mina's tears into diamonds?
Well, that scene and miraculous work of turning tears into diamonds inspires the Lágrima jacket, it couldn't have had any other name, with applications on its lapel that recreate the diamonds from this scene.
And of course, that unconditional love that has sailed oceans of time to be by his beloved's side, renouncing light and condemning himself to darkness, is represented in the flaming heart that you can see, for example, on the Belu and Labios dresses.
And now you know more about the work and grace of Eiko Ishioka, why she won a well-deserved Academy Award for Best Costume Design in Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1992, and how inspiring a film can be when creating a collection. If you have always loved the story of Dracula and his beloved, which has thousands of followers and is already a classic, you have the opportunity to make it your own with some of Uro's wonderful garments. To see the entire collection, simply click here.
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