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Netflix’s Wednesday has returned with its sophomore season, and once again, clothes are doing more than dressing characters. Legendary costume designers Colleen Atwood and Mark Sutherland turned Nevermore Academy and its surroundings into a runway of gothic eccentricities. But the crowning jewel of season two? A Venetian masquerade gala staged with the kind of decadence only the Addams family could inspire.
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Though filmed in Dublin, the gala channels 18th-century Venice with a Tim Burton twist: gowns so wide they could clear tables, masks dripping with excess, and the occasional Steve Buscemi in purple Casanova-inspired finery. Nearly a thousand costumes were crafted for this single sequence—a feat that required collaborations with global costume houses like Tirelli and Angels. The result is a climax of visual storytelling.
Wednesday’s Wildean Edge
Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday has long weaponized simplicity from austere school uniforms, severe collars, and the all-black palette that seems to scorn frivolity. Inspired by Oscar Wilde’s wit and tailoring, Wednesday arrives in an “almost waistcoat” paired with a diaphanous tulle shirt. From the waist down, however, the silhouette expands into a voluminous skirt that lets her spar, optically, with the extravagant gowns around her.
Wolf Meets It-Girl
If Wednesday thrives in austerity, Enid howls in excess. After her “wolfing out” in season one, Emma Myers emerges bolder with costumes inspired by Japanese street style and New York grit. Her gala attire, designed with movement in mind, embraces textures and danceable fabrics. She’s the playful chaos against Wednesday’s stoic severity—two sides of Nevermore’s coin.
Patron Saint of Extravagance
The gala exists because Morticia willed it so. Written into the narrative as the mastermind fundraiser, Catherine Zeta-Jones leans into her character’s matriarchal opulence. Atwood and Sutherland framed their designs around a single question: “What would Morticia have done?” The answer? Everything, and more.
The Cast in Couture
The gala’s brilliance lies not only in its leads. Around the Addams family swirls a colorful sea of every member of the ensemble bringing a distinct look to the scene. The effect is a hall of mirrors where every character is instantly recognizable.
The Venetian gala underscores what Wednesday (and Tim Burton) does best: use fashion as atmosphere. The theatrical scale was audacious, the detailing obsessive, and the result is a visual language that blurred history, fantasy, and subversion into one decadent vision.
Photos courtesy of SOPHY HOLLAND (via Instagram)
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