Haunt Couture: The Goth Allure of ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’

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Tim Burton, the director, has been working with costume designer Colleen Atwood for over three decades to create the unique, darkly quirky style that has become synonymous with his most successful films such as Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Alice in Wonderland, and the current Netflix show titled Wednesday.

Now, four-time Academy Award winner Atwood is directing the latest version of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”, a role she has taken on after Aggie Guerard Rodgers designed the original “Beetlejuice” 36 years ago.

Or,

After 36 years since Aggie Guerard Roders designed the original “Beetlejuice”, four-time Oscar winner Atwood is now directing “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”.

Both sentences convey the same information but with slightly different word choices and sentence structures for variety.

The new film? It involved handcrafting nearly 1,000 costumes, Atwood estimates.

One of the notable aspects includes the distinctive black-and-white striped attire worn by Michael Keaton’s character, made from high-end silk obtained from an esteemed Italian textile company called Taroni. As Tim Atwood explains to The Hollywood Reporter, “I had this fabric stored at home for a long time as I was considering using it to upholster a couch, but since I have pets, I realized that a four-ply silk couch might not be practical for me.” Instead, the fabric became Beetlejuice’s suit. Taroni then manufactured additional suits with the specific stripe width I desired due to multiple suits being required in a movie today, including those for photo doubles, stunt doubles, and so on.

The process between Burton and Atwood centers on a material world — literally.

According to Atwood, he often receives feedback on materials due to his unique directorial interest in examining and touching textiles. For instance, when designing the red Victorian-style wedding dress for Winona Ryder’s character Lydia Deetz, he opted for high-quality French lace combined with pleated silk tulle. This attention to fabrics has been a consistent aspect of our collaboration over time. In this project, instead of using materials similar to the originals, Atwood chose ones that allowed for easy color and texture manipulation. Over time, these fabrics became increasingly textured and aged.

As a gamer, I found myself immersed in an intriguing project: outfitting the characters of the afterlife, each attired to symbolize their reason for demise. Working closely with Neal Scanlan, our creature effects creative supervisor, was a significant part of this endeavor. It felt like a job in itself, as we had to adjust and accommodate all the special effects bodies that altered the shape and cut of clothing to fit these slightly distorted figures. We were always tweaking and problem-solving to get everything just right.

Afterward, we carried out a complex process of aging the garments. Atwood explained, “We employed several layers of silk-screening, applied paints and other materials, and then carefully removed them to create a worn, distressed appearance.” I had a large team dedicated to this task. Often, I would age and dye fabric before it was sewn together, sometimes after the garment was made, or even both. There were various stages of Monica Bellucci’s dress (from her role as Delores LaFerve in Beetlejuice) – fresh from the dry cleaner to heavily aged – that developed as the process continued.

Bellucci’s black dress transforming from an attire similar to lingerie into a reinterpretation of her original wedding gown was quite an accomplishment: “Determining the mechanics behind that dress, making it rise out of coffins, proved to be quite a challenge. They combined seven or eight different body parts, which was quite clever, and we used various pieces of clothing to cover certain areas that were best left unseen; it was like playing a game.

The suggestions made by actors influenced their costumes as well. For instance, Michael insisted on wearing his favorite costume, a genuine matador cape from Spain, in the film despite not originally being intended for that role. Similarly, Catherine O’Hara (Delia, Deetz’s artistic stepmother) chose to reuse her hat from the original movie for one of the scenes, specifically for the funeral scene, as confirmed by Atwood.

Atwood remarks that he thoroughly enjoyed Catherine’s collection as it seemed to embody the spirit of those who peaked artistically and romantically in the ’80s, an era mirrored in the film, and has remained true to ever since. Fashion from the ’80s made a comeback in odd ways, so he constantly discovered items that amused him, such as her black-and-white leather coat which I stumbled upon on a random online platform.

British fashion designer Elena Dawson’s jackets were a collaborative concept between actors Ryder and Justin Theroux (who portrays Rory, Lydia’s producer-boyfriend). As Atwood explains, “Justin was behind it; he mentioned, ‘There’s this designer …’ “. Justin has a keen eye for fashion, as evidenced by his stylish demeanor. When designing Rory’s costumes, the costume designer took a realistic approach, drawing inspiration from people she knew in real life who held similar roles to Justin’s character. She and Justin shared a laugh about Rory’s hairstyle, aiming for a young Karl Lagerfeld-inspired look, and the coat. Rory’s style was described as the male equivalent of Winona, with a French scarf and a continental flair, reminiscent of the past. Ryder also referenced Dawson’s designs, as Atwood notes: “I was familiar with her clothes from Dover Street Market in London; they have an edgy, gothic feel. So I sent Elena some fabric, and she crafted unique pieces for Winona. Winona’s character is a blend of schoolgirl goth and Victorian urban style that remains trendy in eclectic stores globally.

Lydia’s daughter Astrid (played by Jenna Ortega) is depicted as having a lively appearance, which author Atwood describes as “grunge and ’90s” due to her character’s affinity for that music genre, and “socially conscious” in reference to her late activist father. This translates into clothing items that seemed natural in their materials and colors, standing out from what others were wearing, as Atwood explains, citing a denim jacket and a torn-up striped knit dress as examples.

During a fitting in Rome involving Willem Dafoe (playing underworld detective Wolf Jackson), the suitability of an Atwood jacket was clearly demonstrated. “I had this fantastic 70’s vintage coat I discovered,” explained Atwood. “He put it on, posed with his guns, and it was as if we found our man! That’s him!

This tale initially graced the pages of a single issue from The Hollywood Reporter magazine, published in January. If you’d like to read more issues like this one, consider subscribing by clicking here.

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2025-01-11 21:25