A dive into the success of the Tiffany & Co. x “Frankenstein” film integration with the woman who made it happen. Plus, the Governors Awards ups its fashion game, the Costume Institute sings the body electric and thoughts on the kerfuffle over those red Valentino Rockstud pumps in “The Devil Wears Prada 2” teaser.
A Luxury Brand Film Integration With the Impact of a Super Bowl Ad on Repeat
“Frankenstein” has been a hit in more ways than one.
Drawing nearly 63 million views globally since its premiere, the movie also features one of the most high-profile film-fashion tie-ins of the year — a rare case in which the unlikely integration of luxury jewelry into a creature feature has been a net win for everyone involved.
Not only did Tiffany & Co. lend jewels to Guillermo del Toro’s production, the luxury brand also helped advance Netflix’s prestige play by lending its heritage and savoir-faire.
Unlike the summer blockbuster “F1,” which brought in a reported $40 million from brand integrations from Mercedes-Benz, Expensify and IWC Schaffhausen among others, no money changed hands between Tiffany and Netflix for including 27 pieces of archival and contemporary high jewelry on screen.
And that’s been the case with a lot of luxury fashion integrations, including the high-profile ones on Apple TV’s “Your Friends & Neighbors,” I found while researching a recent story for TheWrapBook.
The “Frankenstein” partnership was put together by Kathryn Vanderveen. Her L.A.-based agency Createology represents luxury brands in the entertainment space, including Dior for the upcoming film “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”
“’The Great Gatsby’ was a benchmark,” Vanderveen, who also worked on the 2013 Baz Luhrmann film with Tiffany, said. “Before that, luxury brands didn’t really understand how they could be integrated, because their label or logo wouldn’t be automatically seen as it would be with spirits or a car.”
“Frankenstein” wasn’t an easy sell either. Christopher Young, vice president of creative visual merchandising, events and the Tiffany Archives, was skeptical. “My imagination was filled with visions of earlier monster interpretations,” he said via email, noting that Tiffany receives a steady stream of partnership ideas from friends-of-friends and agencies like Createology, but engages in very few of them.
But he became convinced that the American house’s archives would work in the film after seeing costume designer Kate Hawley’s sketches, hearing about her character studies and noticing parallels between the history of Tiffany and the storyline of Elizabeth, played by Mia Goth.
“Through Tiffany’s historical fascination with nature — particularly insects and scarabs, much like Elizabeth herself — we reflected Louis Comfort Tiffany’s own experiments with natural forms and color,” he said.
“It wasn’t about brand, it was about a moment that matched artistic aspiration with heritage and storytelling,” Hawley, who also worked with Tiffany to design contemporary pieces for the film, said. “It didn’t feel like anyone was selling anything.”
Unlike with “Gatsby” and Tiffany, there was no product spinoff. But there was a joint promotional campaign led by Netflix and Tiffany that included custom content, events, window displays designed by Del Toro for the Tiffany Landmark store in New York and a costume exhibition that debuted at Selfridges in London and will travel to Los Angeles. Goth has also worn Tiffany at multiple red carpet events for the film.
What did all that amount to? Using her own analytics, Vanderveen has calculated a media impact value similar to a “Super Bowl ad on repeat.”
To find out how she got there, and how the landscape of brand integration is changing, I chatted with Vanderveen. Our conversation was edited for brevity and clarity.
There are product placement firms, the talent agencies are doing it, and many luxury brands have their own people working on entertainment partnerships. What is Createology’s point of differentiation?
Kathryn Vanderveen: We have deep contacts with filmmakers, producers, costume designers, writers and the entire studio, streaming network infrastructure. I know what projects are going to be cultural moments, how to work within the structures to advocate for my clients, and that luxury needs to be treated differently, not like a mandatory media overlay with Kellogg’s.
You’ve been working with Tiffany since 2008, what’s the relationship like?
KV: I work with Christopher Young, who oversees the archives but also creative visual merchandising. And I feel like those two areas for any luxury brand is really the sweet spot for these integrations and entertainment.
I will bring projects to his attention that might make sense for what Tiffany’s messaging is through the next year or two years. If it’s a film project, you’ve got to have a two or three year timeframe mindset. If it’s television, it’s quite a bit quicker. And if he likes it, he’ll take it from there internally.
Why “Frankenstein”?
KV: It was brought to me by Steven Newman at Netflix in early 2024. He had been talking to the costume designer, and she said she needed great jewelry. The film was set in the original timeframe, or close to the original timeframe of the Gothic Romantic era that Mary Shelley wrote it in. I thought, this could be an amazing way to highlight the Tiffany archives in the romantic era of the 1840s and ’50s. When I texted Christopher over the weekend, my text said something like, “Please don’t stop reading.”
What did you need to show to Tiffany to convince them?
We set up a conversation with Kate Hawley. She was already shooting the film in Edinburgh, far along in production. But there were scenes with Elizabeth, played by Mia Goth, coming up. So we had this incredible timing. And Christopher and Kate just synced.
We shared key images with top management at Tiffany throughout to keep them involved, but as soon as they started to see the spectacular jewel toned costumes and the feathers, it was just so obvious that this was meant to be. When you are an almost 200-year-old heritage luxury brand, you become part of the mind vault and it’s really important to shock the system.
How did it work on the business side?
KV: There was no integration fee. But there was a relationship of how Tiffany could support the film, support Guillermo’s vision and how then, in a circular motion, the film would shine a light on the Tiffany archives.
The brand integrations into the film “F1” were such significant amounts of money that they actually offset production costs. Is that where you see this going, or is that not what you do exactly?
KV: “F1” is the perfect vehicle, no pun intended, for that type of activation and the model of heightened product placement, which is an important element in the business.
But I tend to work in the luxury and lifestyle sector in a more artistic, cultural way that helps to elevate. I like storyline integration or at least being deeply integrated into the look of the costume design. But I do think in the business, there are a lot of things changing.
You have luxury brands interested in supporting productions that they’re not in, but they see as an important artistic and cinematic expression of art, maybe telling a story that they think is valuable. And more filmmakers are interested in finding an organic way that they can work with brands and their stories. This is going to be really evident with “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” which we’re also working on. It’s becoming a lot more niche and directed by what the brand’s needs are and the filmmakers’ needs are.
You also have brands making their own films, whether its Saint Laurent Productions, or the upcoming Brunello Cucinelli-produced biopic, “Brunello: The Gracious Visionary.” What were the benefits for Netflix and for Tiffany?
KV: For Netflix, they had to kind of level up to doing this, because it was far different than let’s say, doing something with McDonald’s, where you have a giant ad agency working with you, there’s an electronic media quarterly budget you can roll in, and you have product initiatives that you might be focusing on. But as Netflix moves into prestige film, which is a very important initiative for them, and obviously Guillermo is a very important director for them, this opened up a new world.
You had the store windows in New York, the collaborative public relations and content creation effort, the events, so it was those layers that you’re adding to the project.
From Tiffany’s point of view, speaking solely from me, when you’re a heritage brand and you allow yourself to think outside of the box, what is initially unexpected becomes obvious.
But there is always a risk for brands, right? That viewers will not respond favorably?
KV: It’s a consideration. But brands have to awaken and invite people back continually, so from that point of view, some risk is warranted. It’s the same with the red carpet, you’ll be on the best dressed or the worst dressed or no one will mention it at all, but you have to do it. And the brand that will be remembered and get ahead will support cinema because it moves culture.
Next time will Netflix be charging money for this integration?
KV: The industry is changing from a revenue point of view. There are advertising overlays happening across the board. There’s a shift in the revenue streams and how they value brand integration as part of that. I hope that we have been able to make the case that luxury is a different animal. Luxury provides something very special and very unique to the right entertainment projects. It adds a gravitas.
Tiffany and Netflix wouldn’t share numbers with me, but how do you measure success?
KV: Obviously, Tiffany has their analytics, Netflix has theirs and we have our own looking at what these partnerships are doing for both the brand and the film, and how they are supporting and elevating each other.
Between Oct. 6 and Nov. 6, the partnership had 800 million impressions. We are estimating the Netflix on-platform viewership to eventually increase the total impressions to 1.5 billion. We use a moderate blended CPM to calculate the data, hard numbers from Netflix such as global household reach and a formula to assess viewer awareness of the brand to film association.
For those “Frankenstein” viewers who are aware of the Tiffany archival jewelry supported in the press, social, digital, event and image campaigns, the significant film time for the archival jewelry has the impact of a Super Bowl 30-second spot on repeat.
Currently, we are projecting an earned media equivalent valuation shared by Netflix and Tiffany of between $65 and $75 million. Honestly, I would not be surprised if we exceed that after we see Netflix quarterly reports on hours viewed and the awards campaign where Kate Hawley and Tiffany’s jewelry will be front and center.
“Frankenstein” is No. 1 on Netflix’s global streaming chart, with a global reach to 350 million households. All of this in October, normally a luxury retail dead space but now a pre-pre holiday retail call to action.
Governors Awards Ups Fashion Game
Fashion isn’t slowing down for the holidays just yet. Last weekend, Hollywood turned out for the Governors Awards, an early awards season stop that is becoming a major red carpet.
In the mega brand category, Louis Vuitton has been upstaged in recent weeks by luxury peers with new creative directors, but dressed its ambassadors really well Saturday night. I loved Chase Infiniti’s white tulle confection, Jeremy Allen White’s sexy take on a tuxedo and Emma Stone’s sleek and dramatic LBD.
Bottega Veneta ambassador Jacob Elordi looked mighty fine, while Dior face Mia Goth’s pale blue satin deconstructed bow gown was her best look from the brand yet.
Because the Governors Awards is a smaller event with less at stake, some celebrity brand ambassadors don’t have it written into their dressing contracts, which made for surprises, like Dior ambassador Anya Taylor-Joy in a ghostly white corseted Maison Margiela gown. She went without the runway mask, unlike Kim Kardashian who hid behind one from the same Spring 2026 Margiela couture collection at the Academy Gala.
Edgier looks were also in the mix from brands whose pay-for-play pockets don’t run quite as deep, perhaps, but who got an entrance here. I loved Hailee Steinfeld’s swirling gray Stéphane Rolland couture look resembling a sea creature and Isabela Merced’s Gothic glam hooded black corseted dress by up-and-coming Turkish-British designer Dilara Findikoglu.
Costume Institute Sings the Body Electric
Vogue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute announced the exhibition that will be at the center of the next Met Gala on May 4, 2026. Titled “Costume Art,” it will examine the concept of the dressed body across 5,000 years of Western art and fashion history.
Featuring 200 pieces of art and 200 historical and contemporary pieces of fashion, the exhibition will be organized around the themes “Naked Body,” “Classical Body,” “Pregnant Body,” “Aging Body,” “Anatomical Body” and the “Mortal Body.”
The show, which runs May 10, 2026 to Jan. 10, 2027, will also mark the opening of a new 12,000-square foot permanent space for the Costume Institute, adjacent to the Great Hall, and named the Condé M. Nast Galleries–after the founder of the media empire.
In true Vogue form, the whole affair is already generating controversy over the year’s lead Met Gala sponsors, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez-Bezos, which seems a bit silly. They have been laying the groundwork for this for months.
Gird Your Loins for Backlash
Anna Wintour’s “The Devil Wears Prada 2” onscreen alter ego, Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly, and her devilish Rockstud Valentino pumps as seen in the first teaser trailer for the film, caused a kerfuffle with fashion insiders.
The placement — gird your loins, there are going to be lots of them in the film — disappointed some, who felt the shoe was dated. (The first Valentino Rockstud collection came out in 2010, and the style was a major trend in the early Aughts.)
It’s worth pointing out that Wintour herself does not wear flashy shoes; in fact, she’s usually in Manolo Blahnik boots or sandals, depending on the season. But the film is a work of fiction, and costume designer Patricia Field is creating a heightened reality, but also a reality that the real world, not just insiders, can relate to and buy as fierce glamour.
In that context, the shoes work. They also happen to be the only recognizable Valentino shoe style there is, and the Rockstud collection has carried over for 15 years and is still selling. So it’s a win for the brand to get the exposure. The trailer was released last week and racked up a whopping 185 million views the first 24 hours.
The film opens May 1, 2026 — and of course will have a Met Gala scene. Wonder if the Bezoses will make a cameo.
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