When you hear the name Wednesday Addams, ‘fashion icon’ might not be your first thought. But the “Wednesday” costume team put a lot of work into Jenna Ortega’s look. Her most memorable outfit (other than her custom Nevermore uniform) is hands-down the black gown she wears to the Rave’n school dance — and in some ways, the dress was the perfect match for Wednesday.
The unapologetic frills aren’t afraid to take up space, and you need a certain level of self-confidence to wear a black outfit to a party with an all-white dress code. Still, Ortega has revealed she had to fight against Wednesday making self-deprecating comments about the outfit:
“I remember there’s a line where I’m talking about a dress, and she initially was supposed to say, ‘Oh, my God, I’m freaking out over a dress, I literally hate myself.’ And I was blown away because that sounded like I — it was just a bunch of little things like that.”
“Freaking out” about clothing is stereotypically hyper-feminized behavior and Wednesday’s the polar opposite of the classic girly girl, so it isn’t hard to see how the line ended up in the script. Still, the ‘I literally hate myself’ bit is very much at odds with Wednesday’s usual unapologetic confidence, and it’s very frustrating that the line seems to dismiss femininity.
The line ultimately comes across as an “I’m not like other girls” type comment, but that trope is so rooted in sexism and self-consciousness that I can’t possibly imagine it applying to Wednesday. If the line stayed in the scene, Ortega’s Wednesday would’ve got too far in a new direction to be recognizable — or at least satisfying. By insisting that the line was cut, Ortega ensured that Wednesday stayed true to her roots.