Friday, January 13, 2023
Colleen Atwood, Netflix Wednesday Costume Designer
Hypebae: From Jenna Ortega‘s self-choreographed dance to Christina Ricci starring in the series, Netflix‘s Wednesday has probably been the most-talked-about show over the past few weeks since its premiere. One of the many highlights of the buzzy show is the outfits and costumes that contributed to illustrating each character in the show directed by Tim Burton.
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The reason I clicked on this article is because of how much I admire Colleen Atwood. Her work always stands out in every movie that she does. I love that Tim Burton keeps bringing her back for his movies. One thing I really liked about this article is how they talk about Wednesday’s Rave’N Ball dress and she ties it back to her childhood. Atwood talks about how much she looked up to Charles Adams and I love how she wanted to bring Adam’s work to “today's world”. I also like how Atwood brings other pop culture and historical inspiration into her costumes such as “Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman”. Another interesting design choice for the costumes was how she didnt just play with differing colors between characters. She also used different textures to alter the way we look at the different characters and feel about them. Overall I feel like this article shows Colleen Atwood’s design process and really conveys her process to the audience.
One of the best things about this industry is finding who is passionate about their work. Just from reading this article, I can tell that Colleen Atwood is passionate about her work. I found it so interesting to read about her sort of research process. It’s so important to reflect the original piece, but then make it unique in your own way, which she describes her doing. I didn’t even know she has a lift of shows to her name, all sort of within a certain genre, but then hearing that she’s worked with Tim Burton a lot made sense. And hey, all the power to her. There are people that I’ve worked with that I would sacrifice anything to work with them again. It’s also rewarding to be asked to work on a show because you work well with someone else. The costumes in this show made perfect sense and I really enjoyed reading about her process and why she chose certain things.
The article discusses the costume design for Wednesday Addams, a character from the Tim Burton film "Addams Family Values." The costume designer, Colleen Atwood, explains her inspiration and process for creating Wednesday's iconic look. Atwood mentions that she worked closely with Tim Burton to ensure that the costumes fit with his vision for the film. The article highlights Atwood's attention to detail and her ability to create a unique and recognizable look for Wednesday. It also emphasizes the importance of collaboration between the costume designer and the director in order to achieve a cohesive visual style for a film. The fact that Wednesday Addams' costumes have stood the test of time and remain iconic is a testament to Atwood's skill as a costume designer. Overall, the article provides an insightful look into the creative process of costume design and the integral role it plays in the film industry. It also showcases the brilliance of Colleen Atwood as a costume designer and the impact of her work on popular culture.
Although I had seen the Work of Colleen Atwood before, I had admittedly not paid attention to the costumes, as I am actually not a fan of Burton. I tend to avoid his work if I can, with exceptions such as Sweeney Todd, and Wednesday. But even then I tend to be so overwhelmed by everything within the work. But finding out that Burton seems to turn to Atwood makes sense, as he tends to work within very specific color palettes, and that Atwood seems to be good at working within smaller color palettes. She shows experience in creating different types of variety that aren't simply color. Color gets a lot of credit in design work. But she focuses on silhouettes, patterns, and textures. Which I definitely would struggle to think of, as I definitely look at color first. And although I tend to not enjoy Burton's films, I can appreciate the artistry from all the creatives he works with to create such a strong atmosphere, intense characters, and high stakes environments. And I’m glad I found this article so I could appreciate the costumes more than I was previously.
The show Wednesday was so much fun to watch, and one can’t help but notice the gorgeous costume design that immerses the audience instantly. I have actually watched a few TikToks about Wednesday’s costumes in particular, and I love that Jenna Ortega played a part in the process of inspiring the costumes. I loved how the designer was inspired by the original comics, but still balanced with the current styles and trends today. As a previous private-school-uniform-wearing-student, it was really cool to see Wednesday in a uniform like everyone else, but in her own way (literally my elementary/middle school dreams.) I loved when the article mentioned Bianca’s Rave’n dress. It was really interesting reading about the choices they made. “Bianca’s Rave’N dress was inspired by ’60s fashion, but we incorporated scales and fabric that felt like her background as a siren. So it was slightly snake-like, but not entirely. We wanted something simple and sleek.”
I really enjoyed this article because this was a show that I really quickly became almost obsessed with. Colleen Atwood is such an amazing Costume Designer and one that I really look up to in the industry and her work on Wednesday is truly just stunning. I also have loved her work on many other things in the past most notably being little women Edward Scissorhands in the bar recent fantastic beast franchise. With this show in particular I loved how she was able to juxtapose Wednesday and her roommate while still keeping them in the same world. They were able to make it so her roommate was a lot more colorful and a lot more lively and had a lot of different textures in bold prints versus Wednesday who tend to have more geometric prints and stuck with the black and white color palette. One thing that Colleen said in this interview that I agreed with was how she doesn’t exactly look at all of her characters as one that she should favorite they all have something that they’re bringing to the story and bringing to the overall design so it’s difficult to figure out which character you enjoy designing for more.
I like when a designer gets the opportunity to work with a director more than once because it allows the designer to take more risks. After all, they know how the director thinks already. My personal favorite that didn't get talked about in this article is the juxtaposition of Wednesday and Enid, both in personality and design. I would like to hear about the process of designing a more lively character while still fitting her into the world of Neverwere Academy.
Hearing that Atwood was considering Sunday's body type for her costume also made me smile. Designers must consider who they are putting their designs on as well as the design itself because many shapes don't fit all body types the same, and when it doesn't go as planned, more often than not, it leads to anxiety for both actors and designers.
Atwood did a great job branching off the original works to create costumes for the well-known characters. Especially with the dress Wednesday wears. When watching the show, it is easy to see why Wednesday would pick the dress, but also that slight bit of anxiety she has around it, given it would not be her first choice of outfits.
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