In ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,’ Fashion Comes Alive

Costume designer Colleen Atwood breaks down the influences and methods behind the fashion in Tim Burton’s underworld.

Sure, her job is to design clothes for the dead, but Colleen Atwood’s work is vibrant and her process full of energy. As costume designer on this month's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (the sequel to the 1988 cult classic), Atwood was entrusted with constructing director Tim Burton’s larger-than-life—and afterlife—vision in a way that recalled the original movie while simultaneously creating something fresh. Building such a world, she says, is like putting together a “puzzle of crazies,” with each character as odd as Beetlejuice himself.

“The characters are the world. They define the world,” Atwood tells InStyle in the latest episode of ‘Behind the Seams.’ “They don't have to fit in, it has to fit into them. So you start with them, and you make them who they are.”

Atwood says she looked to the original film and thought about what audiences would be expecting in the sequel, starting with the ghost-with-the-most himself in his iconic black-and-white striped suit. She kept the influences of original costume designer Aggie Guerard Rodgers, while taking the designs to a new time and place by tweaking the style and shape slightly, using luxe Italian silk, and making him look more mature.

“Michael [Keaton] really wanted to feel like he was Beetlejuice, but he was a little bit older, so we broke down the clothes so they looked a little more old man,” Atwood explains.

She continues, “The first time Michael tried on the suit for the film, it was a ‘He's back’ moment with him. It's funny because he didn't have the hair and makeup on, so he wasn't really back, but he could feel like that.” Once Keaton completed his Beetlejuice physique with a prosthetic tummy, it was showtime.

Keaton also reprised Beetlejuice’s distinctive burgundy wedding tuxedo, which Atwood created with a poly wool fabric. “We kept to the same styling and vibe of that tux because it looks like a rent-a-tux, which is kind of the idea—a little bit ill-fitting.”

In Atwood’s process, she says her designs are always evolving, from her initial costume imaginings when she first reads a script to every subsequent fitting. With this movie, the possibilities felt endless given she wasn’t confined to a certain time period: She had expansive creative freedom, as it’s unknown how long each wanderer in the underworld had been there. “Even though Beetlejuice was in the ‘80s, there's definitely a timeless quality to it. It could be the ‘50s, it could be the ‘70s, which is what makes it really special.”

Lydia Deetz’s (Winona Ryder) wardrobe, for example, was influenced by the Victorian era, marked by small-waist, high-collared garments. (Though, for her first scene in the film, when she’s hosting her TV show, Ghost House With Lydia Deetz, Atwood dug up an ‘80s dress with a cinched waist that “looked like a cheap old horror costume.”) Corpse bride Delores (Monica Bellucci), also wears a grand multi-colored, Victorian-esque corset gown. Other inhabitants of the underworld were outfitted in bright hues to exaggerate their bluish- and greenish-gray faces—like the Shrinkers, who wear canary-yellow suits, inspired by 1970s Century 21 Real Estate men.

Red adds a pop of color for Lydia, who primarily wears black. (Her life is, after all, One. Big. Dark. Room.) “She was very keen on keeping that vibe of somebody that wasn't comfortable in their clothes,” Atwood explains of Ryder, whom she worked with previously on Edward Scissorhands. “It definitely harkens back to the [first] movie, but it's a grown up version of that.”

The film also reunited Atwood with her Wednesday colleague Jenna Ortega, who plays Lydia’s daughter, Astrid. The two creatives decided that Astrid was the kind of girl who didn’t focus much on her clothes—for the most part, they landed on outfits that looked tough, grungy, and pulled together. Though, there were two experimental departures.

For Astrid’s Marie Curie Halloween costume, Atwood unearthed a reflective, light-weight fabric to create a dress that looked “like it might be radioactive.” And for her date with Jeremy (Arthur Conti), Atwood created a frock using chiffon fabric covered in small sunflowers, which allowed Astrid to lean into her girliness.

For every character, dead or alive, one of Atwood’s main concerns was making the costumes look lived in. She achieved this by selecting worn materials, printing and painting on the fabric, and other aging techniques.

“You wanted to make them exaggerated reality, but you didn't want them to be showy and doll clothes,” Atwood explains. “You wanted them to be real.”

Atwood’s methods are visuals-heavy; she’s moved by colors, vibes she gathers from her collaborators, and her overall imagination—in the words of Beetlejuice, she really just turns on the juice and sees what shakes loose. In fact, she and Burton have a “creative shorthand.” (The two have collaborated on many films, including Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland, and Dark Shadows.)

“My process with Tim is not like a lot of discussions and cerebral intellectualizing about story and character. It's very fluid: It's about movement, color, and style. I just show him my fabrics, my ideas, and he just says, ‘Go for it,’” she said. “If you live in Tim's room, there's a lot of room to play, and it's a big playroom full of childish, beautiful things.”

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