Brat summer to goth winter: Beetlejuice revival prompts sartorial spookiness

As Charli xcx declared last week, brat summer is officially over. It is being exorcised by a new mood more befitting of the UK’s darkening autumnal skies: goth winter. So put away your lime green garb and reacquaint yourself with the more shadowy side of your wardrobe, because the realm of the weird, Angela Carter and ghouls is set to take over our wardrobes.

This inky mood is taking hold, in part, thanks to the return of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice to cinemas, 36 years after the original. On the red carpets in the lead-up to the film’s release its stars have been wearing their work on their sleeves.

Jenna Ortega, who plays Astrid Deetz, daughter to Winona Ryder’s character Lydia Deetz, has been darkening promotional events in archival Vivienne Westwood corsetry, blood-red tights and spooky pinstripe suits; Catherine O’Hara has been wearing black and white stripes; and Ryder has been cutting an edge in wonky tailoring and black ruffles.

This gothic mood is trickling down to the high street. Earlier this week, Primark unveiled a Beetlejuice collection made in collaboration with the film’s costume designer, Colleen Atwood. At M&S – traditionally more strait-laced than fish-netted – gothic-inflected items, such as a black tulle skirt, burgundy leather trousers and bright red shoes, are going on sale as part of their autumn/winter collection, which was launched this week.

At the Scandi brand Ganni, the latest shoe release, a punk-inflected eyelet ballerina flat, wouldn’t look out of place on the foot of a Deetz – the original Addams Family star Christina Ricci is the star of the latest campaign. On the resale site Depop searches for the term “Beetlejuice” were up +441% from July to August.

There were cues that things were headed in an uncanny direction at the Met Gala in May. Colman Domingo, the Sing Sing actor, came as a friendly high-fashion goth in Willy Chavarria; Beetlejuice bangs spiked down the foreheads of the Past Lives actor Greta Lee and the model Ashley Graham. Deep plum lipsticks and eyes smokier than a witch’s cauldron manifested on stars such as Zendaya and Charli xcx.

More recently, FKA twigs, who is starring in the Crow remake, was seen out in New York in claret red leather and muddy brown thigh-high boots.

Tish Weinstock, a former Vogue beauty editor, goth and now author of a book called How to Be a Goth: Notes on Undead Style, which is out next month, thinks we are heading to a full-scale goth revival. She describes the fashion as “a celebration of darkness”. Most obviously that might mean “a shadowy palette of black, grey, midnight blue, crimson, and deep purple”. But, she said, “you can take the style anywhere … Goth is dark, it’s daring but it can also be sad and romantic.”

It is a mood bubbling away in wider culture too. The gothic musical genre of darkwave is being sought out by millions of listeners on Spotify and cinemas are showing a glut of horror films. In Sabrina Carpenter’s video for her song Taste she embarks on a gory Death Becomes Her-style feud with Ortega herself. The gen Z It-girls, such as the musician and model Gabbriette, are leading the charge for modern-day goths.

Weinstock believes this is happening now because “there’s so much sadness and violence in the world that it’s beginning to seep into and shape the culture”. She believes the darkness within culture and clothes is “our way of dealing with all this madness. It’s a form of escapism but it’s also a reality check that reminds us we’re living through scary, uncertain times”.

While summer has been defined by brat’s hedonism, a more goth autumn – season of mist and mellow pumpkin spice lattes – feels like a natural progression.

“Leaves are starting to fall off the trees, plants die, animals hibernate. There’s an element of death and sadness to that which feels very goth,” said Weinstock, also pointing out the crossovers: “Both brat and goth are about sticking two fingers up to the establishment and leaning towards a slightly darker aesthetic. Brat is very brazen and I think that speaks to the 80s notion of goth, which was about shocking and confronting people sartorially and in the way you carried yourself.”

But, she said, there is one important difference: “Where brat was a moment, goth is a way of life.”