I’m a die-hard fan of the Addams family and daughter Wednesday in particular. In fact, most of my wardrobe is inspired by the black-clad, macabre character with braided pigtails. And while there have been many actors who have been in Wednesday’s shoes over the decades, Christina Ricci’s 1991 portrayal is arguably the most iconic for this current generation. Now, Ricci is passing the baton to Jenna Ortega, who has done a great job updating Wednesday’s character for Netflix on the television show of the same name, which just debuted on the streaming service.
After watching all the episodes in a single sitting, I couldn’t wait to sit down with Mark Sutherland, the costume co-designer on “Wednesday,” to hear how he took such an iconic character and gave her classic wardrobe a modern one Touch lent . Of course, you can spot Ortega’s Wednesday from a mile away: always in black, no matter how colorful those around her are, and always with those two pigtails (except for an iconic prom moment).
Ortega’s version of the character has a youthful grunge and edge that no other Wednesday in the past has had. She wears platform shoes with cleated soles, baggy pants, and a school uniform that carries a strong Thom Browne vibe.
Sutherland told POPSUGAR the differences between Ortega’s Wednesday and previous iterations, pointing to classic screen characters like Tippi Hedren’s Melanie Daniels in Hitchcock’s The Birds and an extensive research process that included the literature of Edgar Allan Poe. Read on for our conversation.
This interview has been edited and shortened for clarity.
