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Meet Priscilla. She’s whimsical, eclectic and always wearing pink and blue. She’s driven around town every day in style. People light up when they meet her, wanting a photo with her or of her. She’s Portland popular, in other words.
Priscilla is a giant, car-mounted skeleton.
Sundari Franklin originally tried mounting Priscilla’s entire skeleton to her red Toyota Prius (“I had to make it cool somehow,” she tells WW), but settled for her upper torso. Priscilla wears a floral crown and upcycled cape. The Instagram tag @minnieopal is plastered on the vehicle’s sides and back. The car’s QR code routes users to Minnie Opal Mobile Boutique, offering a series of upcycled dresses and mushroom hats.
Franklin is an artist who founded Minnie Opal Mobile Boutique. She’s a fashion designer who won FashionNXT’s Emerging Designer of the Year award in 2017 for a luminescent dress made of light-up doilies. She says she put Priscilla on her car after being inspired by the art-car phenomenon of the ‘90s. Priscilla also helped Franklin solicit donations for medical care associated with hereditary kidney failure, but now she helps Franklin promote the Minnie Opal Mobile Boutique.
“I didn’t realize how much joy it would bring to the outside world,” she says. “I see it as I’m driving. I see the smiles and the points, and the like ‘what the fuck,’ and kids scream.”
Franklin, who also goes by Minnie and lives by the motto “turning trash into treasure, and women into goddesses,” uses upcycled materials like tablecloths and old lace in her designs.
“[It’s] my tiny little way of saving the earth. I’m a hippy at heart,” she says. “I found no need to consume new materials when there is an abundance of vintage and antique materials around every corner.”
Minnie Opal combines the names of her great-grandmothers, which Franklin says she chose for her business after focusing on her priorities. She says Minnie Opal empowers women through her style.
“One of the common words I hear when women are shopping my dresses is, ‘I just don’t know where I’d wear that,’” she says. “So many people are so worried about the judgment from other people, and I’ve never cared about that. I’ve never had that in my psyche, which is amazing. I love that freedom.”
Franklin will travel to Chengdu Sichuan, China, in September for an artist residency by the art promotion organization NY20+. Franklin plans to use her residency to create a floor-length fringe dress using chopsticks.
“I’m extremely excited,” she says. “I feel extremely lucky to be an artist in this lifetime. I think it’s a very privileged thing to be.”
She applied to NY20+’s residency program after receiving a kidney transplant in February. Franklin channeled her time into Minnie Opal while taking time off, causing the brand to grow significantly. Weighing the costs of medical care in the United States caused her to think about moving elsewhere.
Franklin’s 58-page application includes a proof of concept for the chopstick dress. Franklin says she chose to work with chopsticks since they are one of the most discarded items around the world other than single-use plastic. She plans to spend three weeks exploring the country, visiting Leshan to see the Giant Buddha and Zhangjiajie’s Tianmen Mountain.
But until she leaves, Franklin will commute with Priscilla and her designs. Minnie Opal’s next planned appearance is Aug. 28 for the Alberta Arts District’s Last Thursday street fair. She plans to return in time for the Portland Winter Light Festival in 2026.
“I love the stories my dresses tell,” she says. “So many people loved these pieces at one time and I get to put all that discarded love together and someone new gets to love it all over again.”
