Pittsburgh Arts, Regional Theatre, New Work, Producing, Copyright, Labor Unions,
New Products, Coping Skills, J-O-Bs...
Theatre industry news, University & School of Drama Announcements, plus occasional course support for
Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni.
CMU School of Drama
Thursday, September 04, 2025
Lady Gaga's 'Wednesday' Costume Was a Ghostly Design for Rosaline Rotwood
variety.com: Last Halloween, Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood was accepting Variety’s creative impact award at SCAD Savannah Fest. Immediately after, she had to head to Los Angeles for a mysterious VIP fitting for “Wednesday.”
7 comments:
Ana Schroeder
said...
If there are two celebrities I follow, it is Lady Gaga and Jenna Ortega. I have not seen the second season of Wednesday so I cannot speak to Lady Gaga’s role and its plot within the story, however I still found this article fascinating. A couple of months ago, at one of Lady Gaga’s concerts, Jenna Ortega came out on stage for one of her songs. I thought this was just because with Lady Gaga’s new album her aesthetic has been relatively closely related to that of Jenna ortega, but now I realize they were most likely teasing Lady Gaga’s appearance on Wednesday. The costume that Gaga wears on the show is absolutely ghastly. Which I believe is the point. The hair and makeup also do an excellent job at contributing to the ghost-like etherealness of the character. Wednesday season two has been on my list of shows to watch and I am very excited to see how Lady Gaga bring this character to life.
I found this article extremely interesting even though I really haven’t watched Wednesday at all. Seeing the thought process behind the costumes is so cool! It really bring out and makes you notice and acknowledge the choices made in the process of making the costumes. It also gives you more information to use in order to understand the world and characters better. If I were more into Wednesday, I’m sure I would be analyzing these choices for the costumes in order to figure out what they imply about the characters and settings. Also, hearing about how the costume designer was influenced by the production designer’s choice to use more red in the sets was very interesting. I see now how those choices really make the shots in the show extremely pleasing/interesting to the eye. Also, just in general its nice to see the small photos of Lady Gaga’s outfit because it is absolutely gorgeous. Atwood really did an incredible job with the designs, I honestly want some of these outfits for myself!
I just finished part 2, season 2 of ‘Wednesday’ so this article could not have come at a more perfect time. When I found out Lady Gaga would be making an appearance the first thing I thought about was the costume they were going to put her in. White for a ghost was a classic, yet strong choice considering how it contrasted Wednesday so much in the scene they shared. It was also really interesting to read that costume designer Colleen Atwood originally wanted her dress to have pointy shoulders to resemble a bird, and chose not to make that mistake because of the movements in the scene. After thinking about that for a good minute, I do think it was the right choice even if there wasn’t a technical issue (as much as I would’ve loved the bird look). Overall, it was clear that Atwood put so much effort and attention into this costume and I applaud her for that.
I found this article very interesting because it highlights how much thought and historical detail goes into designing costumes that both serve the story and enhance character development. Colleen Atwood’s work shows a deep understanding of not only fabric and silhouette, but also the narrative symbolism tied to each character. I especially loved how Lady Gaga’s ghostly dress for Rosaline Rotwood was inspired by the 1930s and given birdlike details that connected to the image of a raven. I thought it was really cool how layering a crepeline over the gown to create an ethereal, floating effect can demonstrate how a simple fabric could completely transform the visual impact of a costume. I also thought it was really interesting how Morticia’s look was adapted to her new environment, with red woven into her wardrobe to match the production design. Overall, the article made me realize how costume design is about storytelling as much as aesthetics, and it made me even more interested in learning more about it!
The only reason I clicked on this article was purely because it was about Lady Gaga. I have yet to see season two of Wednesday but I will absolutely be watching it now that I know THE Lady Gaga is in it. I thought it was interesting that the costume designer and the production designer had such an influence on eachothers decisions. I thought that the production designer's choice to use more red in the sets was interesting because it therefore influenced Lady Gaga's costume. It was also really interesting that Colleen Atwood, the costume designer, had initially wanted pointy shoulders on the costume to resemble a burd
*bird, but decided against it as to not impede the movements of the scene. I love that the idea was to resemble a raven, especially with the ravens connotation with Edgar Allen Poe and that they tend to be a bad omen.
7 comments:
If there are two celebrities I follow, it is Lady Gaga and Jenna Ortega. I have not seen the second season of Wednesday so I cannot speak to Lady Gaga’s role and its plot within the story, however I still found this article fascinating. A couple of months ago, at one of Lady Gaga’s concerts, Jenna Ortega came out on stage for one of her songs. I thought this was just because with Lady Gaga’s new album her aesthetic has been relatively closely related to that of Jenna ortega, but now I realize they were most likely teasing Lady Gaga’s appearance on Wednesday. The costume that Gaga wears on the show is absolutely ghastly. Which I believe is the point. The hair and makeup also do an excellent job at contributing to the ghost-like etherealness of the character. Wednesday season two has been on my list of shows to watch and I am very excited to see how Lady Gaga bring this character to life.
I found this article extremely interesting even though I really haven’t watched Wednesday at all. Seeing the thought process behind the costumes is so cool! It really bring out and makes you notice and acknowledge the choices made in the process of making the costumes. It also gives you more information to use in order to understand the world and characters better. If I were more into Wednesday, I’m sure I would be analyzing these choices for the costumes in order to figure out what they imply about the characters and settings. Also, hearing about how the costume designer was influenced by the production designer’s choice to use more red in the sets was very interesting. I see now how those choices really make the shots in the show extremely pleasing/interesting to the eye. Also, just in general its nice to see the small photos of Lady Gaga’s outfit because it is absolutely gorgeous. Atwood really did an incredible job with the designs, I honestly want some of these outfits for myself!
I just finished part 2, season 2 of ‘Wednesday’ so this article could not have come at a more perfect time. When I found out Lady Gaga would be making an appearance the first thing I thought about was the costume they were going to put her in. White for a ghost was a classic, yet strong choice considering how it contrasted Wednesday so much in the scene they shared. It was also really interesting to read that costume designer Colleen Atwood originally wanted her dress to have pointy shoulders to resemble a bird, and chose not to make that mistake because of the movements in the scene. After thinking about that for a good minute, I do think it was the right choice even if there wasn’t a technical issue (as much as I would’ve loved the bird look). Overall, it was clear that Atwood put so much effort and attention into this costume and I applaud her for that.
I found this article very interesting because it highlights how much thought and historical detail goes into designing costumes that both serve the story and enhance character development. Colleen Atwood’s work shows a deep understanding of not only fabric and silhouette, but also the narrative symbolism tied to each character. I especially loved how Lady Gaga’s ghostly dress for Rosaline Rotwood was inspired by the 1930s and given birdlike details that connected to the image of a raven. I thought it was really cool how layering a crepeline over the gown to create an ethereal, floating effect can demonstrate how a simple fabric could completely transform the visual impact of a costume. I also thought it was really interesting how Morticia’s look was adapted to her new environment, with red woven into her wardrobe to match the production design. Overall, the article made me realize how costume design is about storytelling as much as aesthetics, and it made me even more interested in learning more about it!
The only reason I clicked on this article was purely because it was about Lady Gaga. I have yet to see season two of Wednesday but I will absolutely be watching it now that I know THE Lady Gaga is in it. I thought it was interesting that the costume designer and the production designer had such an influence on eachothers decisions. I thought that the production designer's choice to use more red in the sets was interesting because it therefore influenced Lady Gaga's costume. It was also really interesting that Colleen Atwood, the costume designer, had initially wanted pointy shoulders on the costume to resemble a burd
*bird, but decided against it as to not impede the movements of the scene. I love that the idea was to resemble a raven, especially with the ravens connotation with Edgar Allen Poe and that they tend to be a bad omen.
Nat M
Post a Comment