Photo: Todd Cole / © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
If you’ve been a fan of Rodarte for the past 20 years, the news that designers Kate Mulleavy and Laura Mulleavy have joined forces with Saks on a capsule collection inspired by Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, the sequel to the 1988 legendary film Beetlejuice, will come as no surprise. But what did surprise the sisters was the reaction from their friend group when they posted a teaser of the collaboration on Instagram a few days ago. “We have this very large group text and the minute we announced it on Instagram, in came a thousand Beetlejuice photos from different Halloween costumes over the years,” Laura shared on a Zoom from their studio in Los Angeles. “We have this giant life-sized Beetlejuice that we got when we started doing big Halloween parties maybe 15 years ago, and he’s the friend in every funny Halloween photo. We even dressed him up as Ralphie in a pink bunny suit once. He still exists.”
Beetlejuice Mulleavy doesn’t make a cameo in the collection but Rodarte’s signature glamour and humor certainly do. The capsule features four of their current signature silhouettes: a maxi halter style with all-over sequin embroidery in a checkered pattern; a short sleeve black and white striped dress with a delicate lace bodice; a simple bias-cut dress made from a black and white striped fabric with a blood-red rose embellishment at the chest; and a 1930s-inspired slip with short sleeves and black velvet ribbon detailing in a very dramatic crimson red. The latter, a subtle reference to Lydia Deetz’s red lace wedding dress from the original movie.
Photo: Todd Cole / © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
“It was about taking the codes of our brand in terms of silhouette and the ease of some of our dresses, and then combining them with some of the codes that we’ve seen established in the film, which already have a certain whimsical nature to it,” Kate explained. “You think of the stripes, or the color palette, and there’s a quirkiness to that sensibility.”
Laura added. “We wanted to lean into the vast character design within the films—there’s a new character in the new movie that has a kind of black/silver tone so we wanted to lean into that,” Laura added. “If we were doing a runway show with this theme we’d definitely be exploring it further, but this is more about someone saying ‘I want to wear something Beetlejuice-inspired’, which is for more people rather than saying this is a couture dress that one person might get or I won’t ever produce. We wanted to think about things that people could have and that would feel really natural.”
Photo: Todd Cole / © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Rounding out the collection, for the real ’Juice-heads are two groovy red and black tie-dyed RADARTE-logo’d pieces—a t-shirt and a sweatshirt—which will also be available emblazoned with the cartoon depictions of Lydia and Beetlejuice from the animated series that ran in the late ’80s and early ’90s. “We just have a fondness for that cartoon, and I loved their clothing in that. I loved her dress, I loved her hairstyle—it just really stuck in my head,” Laura added. “When this came about I said ‘oh can we also reference this?’ and they allowed us, which I’m really excited for. It’s just great character design, so whether or not it’s humans playing these characters or you have this animated version, it shows how much Tim Burton’s world can resonate with the design space. He’s so brilliant.”
The collection is available on the Rodarte and Saks website, and on Friday, August 23rd, Saks will debut an immersive window display at its New York flagship that will transport customers to “the other side,” no drawing doors on brick walls needed.
Photo: Todd Cole / © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.