Colleen Atwood created a closet fit for the living and dead in ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’

Death is everywhere in Tim Burton’s long-awaited “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” Lydia Deetz doesn’t need an invitation to wear all black, but a funeral brings her back to the original Ghost House, now with a sullen teen of her own, Astrid. “I had to figure out how the main characters looked first, how to make it feel good as the ‘Beetlejuice’ that everyone knows and loves, and still make it a new world of ‘Beetlejuice’ 30-some years later,” says costume designer Colleen Atwood. Another instance is when Beetlejuice plays with the fabric of reality after Lydia’s smarmy boyfriend, Rory, says “Beetlejuice” three times. Costume designer Colleen Atwood decided Beetlejuice’s afterlife crew “should look like Century 21 Real Estate guys from the ’70s.” She used furniture fabric for their suits. It had that vibe without having LEDs running through it.” Whether possessing the power to shine furniture or a fabric saved for more than a decade, Atwood found infinite possibilities in the materials used to create a closet fit for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s” living and dead.