Costume designer Colleen Atwood has worked with director Tim Burton since 1990, when she came up with Edward Scissorhands’ goth hairdresser look. Since that film, the two have collaborated on projects including Mars Attacks! andSleepy Hollow, imprinting each with their distinct sartorial flair. (Green spacesuits to Headless Horseman chic? Now that’s range.) And now, the two reunite once more for Wednesday, the director and executive producer’s series about the Addams family’s eldest child.
Wednesday Addams has been a cultural staple for nearly a century. Say her name, and chances are your mind immediately conjures up a familiar image: two long braids and a black dress. So, how do you give such an iconic look a brand-new twist? It’s a question Atwood grappled with every day as she strived to put her own stamp on Jenna Ortega’s character.
In a behind-the-scenes video, Atwood describes her vision for Wednesday as “trying to conform, but not quite fitting in.” That much comes through in her uniform for Nevermore Academy, a private school for society’s outsiders where she’s enrolled against her will. While everyone else dons the institution’s purple-and-white striped uniform, Atwood wanted her child of woe to stand out in a crowd. “She got her version of the uniform,” she says. “They did her the courtesy of not making her wear the purple and white — she could have a more gray -and-black Wednesday Addams school uniform. I think that instantly put her in a new world.”
The uniform is far from the only look Wednesday rocks throughout the show’s 10 episodes, however. Like many kids in private school, she uses her downtime to experiment with looks and fashions. “We really wanted to have some fun with that so I did an oversized sweatshirt and little shoes, and all sorts of fun, casual clothes for Wednesday so she wasn’t just in a dress or uniform,” Atwood says.
Dive deeper into the stylish details behind Wednesday in the video above. And remember — black goes with everything.
Wednesday debuts, well, Wednesday.
Jenna Ortega Ranks Her Gloriously Gothic Wednesday Outfits
The Poe Cup Catsuit is great… as long as you don’t need to pee.
