Layers of white cotton, silk organza, and delicate floral appliqués spill across the table as senior Avery Ganz carefully pins together pieces of her capstone project: a dress inspired by Ophelia, the tragic leading lady of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
When Ganz learned she could make a dress as a capstone project for English teacher, Emily Coates, she decided to base her creation on a piece of literature she had read in English class, Hamlet. According to Ganz, she decided on this specific work because the books and plays she had studied had deeply resonated with her, especially the character of Ophelia.
“I just really like Ophelia’s character. She never did anything wrong to anybody, and I feel like she is betrayed by everyone around her,” Ganz said “I also just love the story of her death and all the underlying symbolism.”
According to Ganz, her goal is to incorporate Ophelia’s character into the dress. She is using white cotton and organza fabric along with an unstructured and flowy silhouette to symbolize Ophelia’s innocence and emotional fragility throughout the play.
The soft fabrics and loose silhouette are meant to mirror Ophelia’s gradual emotional unraveling throughout the play while still maintaining the innocence associated with her character.
“The pattern I originally used had puff sleeves, but I felt it didn’t fit Ophelia’s character or the time period,” Ganz said. “So instead of puff sleeves, I decided on a long, flowy, almost cap sleeve, made from a silk organza fabric, which felt more fun and feminine compared to a structured puff sleeve.”
According to Ganz, her favorite part of the whole process of making the dress so far was getting to shop for these fabrics in New York City at the shop Mood, where the movie Project Runway was filmed.
Ganz plans to incorporate floral embellishments into the dress to reflect the symbolism of the flowers Ophelia sings about after her father is murdered. She is also later surrounded by the flowers when she drowns.
A very stressful part for Ganz was when she sewed the dress; it didn’t fit over the dress form, so she had to alter it.
“I had to cut off part of the bottom sides to get the dress to go on from the bottom. Figuring out how to change the dress form so it wouldn’t look weird when the dress was on was a bit difficult because I didn’t want to have to buy a new form,” Ganz said.
In order to accurately represent Ophelia’s character, Ganz researched the symbolism behind each flower mentioned throughout the play, discovering how deeply Shakespeare connected nature to emotion and betrayal.
According to Ganz, she designed the dress to have each flower represent different feelings Ophelia was experiencing while being surrounded by those flowers in the play. The rosemary and pansies were meant to represent the remembrance and grief for her father. The fennel represents the deceit and flattery that Ophelia felt when the man she loved killed her father.
“Ophelia later surrounds herself with flowers and commits suicide, symbolizing her lost innocence and the corruption of her pure nature,” Ganz said. “Ophelia […] has a bit of a complicated but sad story, but it’s definitely worth looking into.”
Through the project, Ganz said she gained a greater appreciation for the amount of thought and symbolism that goes into costume design.
Ganz also draws inspiration from visual storytelling beyond literature, often noticing how clothing in film and television helps shape a character’s identity and emotional presence on screen.
“I’ve always been really interested in fashion. When I’m watching TV shows or movies, I notice what characters are wearing and how it represents their character,” Ganz said. “So I get a lot of inspiration from that as well.”
According to Ganz, her interest in fashion has been present ever since she was a child, sewing with her grandma and taking lessons. This is when she first began learning how fabric and design come together in creative projects.
“I felt that this project would be kind of cool to learn about costume design and to fully see the process of everything that goes into making clothing, from beginning to end,” Ganz said.
Next year, Ganz plans to major in Marketing and co-major or minor in Fashion at Miami University in Ohio, and hopes to one day work in marketing in the fashion industry.
