Jenna Ortega is the newest queen of the art of “method dressing,” and the internet can’t stop speculating about whether the trend has finally gone too far.
For the uninitiated, method dressing is when an actor wears clothes inspired by the movie they are promoting or even the specific character they are playing in that movie.
The star of “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!” has appeared on red carpets and at public appearances in outfits that cross the line between fashion and costume, helping to establish thematic clothing as a modern part of film advertising.
Other stars who have embraced the phenomenon include Margot Robbie, who wore pink since before Barbie was introduced; her Wicked co-stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, who have been wearing the color palettes of their respective characters Glinda and Elphaba for weeks; and Halle Bailey, who wore fashion to promote the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid.
But Ortega was one of the first to take the trend to the next level by consistently dressing like Wednesday Adams ahead of the hit Netflix series “Wednesday” in 2022.
Ortega's stylist Enrique Melendez helped stage several spooky fashion moments for the actress ahead of the sequel to Tim Burton's Beetlejuice, which hits theaters on September 6 – including a pinstripe Dolce & Gabbana costume that paid subtle homage to the original film.
But another fashion moment from Ortega in “Beetlejuice” has sparked a debate about when method dressing crosses the line from fun and entertaining to sensationalism.
At one point, the actress wore a look inspired by Winona Ryder's character Lydia Deetz in the original 1988 film.
Wearing a plaid schoolgirl skirt and a navy blue cardigan with a gold wreath crest, it was essentially the same costume that Ryder wore in the “Jump in the Line” dance number in the film's final scene.
As if that wasn't eye-catching enough, the outfit was paired with a handbag that read, “Handbag for the Recently Deceased,” a reference to a book in the film called “Handbook for the Recently Deceased” that the film's parent characters, Adam and Barbara Maitland (played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis), receive after their deaths.
The effect of this look was to transform Ortega into a walking advertisement, completely sublimating any sense of personal style and blurring the line between the world of the film and the real world.
One Reddit user, Special-Garlic1203, summed it up by writing, “At this point it's not even method dressing anymore, it's just a souped-up Halloween costume.”
Blue_orchid2 agreed, posting, “Copying or heavily referencing a character's outfits for press appearances gets boring. It's not very creatively inspiring. To be honest, it feels like a cop-out to me, even when the outfits are cute. They used to be much more subtle about it, but since the Barbie press tour, we've only gotten variations of it.”
Nope_pls wrote: “I can’t wait for Method Dressing to finally die.”
Another user also weighed in, saying that while they like the trend, it sometimes feels forced: “I like method dressing, but not when it's too over the top. For example, I also hated the tennis ball look that Zendaya wore. But if it's 'understated' I think it's hard to top. I do think it can be exhausting to set that as an expectation though. Like, do it when you can be clever, and then just wear something generically cute if it feels forced.”
Zendaya has also fallen victim to excessive method dressing.
The actress and her stylist Law Roach are among the main creators of this trend and made headlines for weeks when the young star appeared in intergalactic fashion in the run-up to Dune 2.
With the Theirry Mugler gynoid suit and Alexander McQueen Givenchy from 1999 that she wore to promote the film, the actress managed to stay true to her impeccable style while building anticipation for the sci-fi blockbuster.
But her press appearances for “Challengers,” in which she plays professional tennis star Tashi Donaldson, were not a great success.
When the “Euphoria” star once wore shoes that literally looked like tennis balls, he resembled a gimmick and looked more like a person in a perpetual costume than a fashion icon.
Zendaya's two recent press tours have shown that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to method dressing and that many films do better without it.
Films with a strong, exaggerated aesthetic, like Dune or Barbie, are perfect for this style of marketing. However, applying this trend to more serious films rooted in realism comes across as forced and tasteless.
One example of this was Blake Lively wearing floral prints (and trying to get her fans to wear them) in the lead-up to It Ends With Us, a film about a woman who experiences domestic violence and happens to be a florist.
Furthermore, method dressing uncomfortably underscores Hollywood's different expectations of men and women, as very few male actors follow this trend with any level of commitment.
Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth were recently pulled through Los Angeles in a horse-drawn carriage to promote Mad Max: Furiosa. The actress wore a black leather dress and dramatic makeup, looking like a post-apocalyptic frequent traveler.
In contrast, Hemsworth wore a button-down shirt, blazer and dark jeans.
This trend also poses the risk of actresses becoming confused with their roles, which can lead to them being pigeonholed and limiting their future opportunities.
While we enjoyed seeing Ortega walk the red carpet in black and white striped dresses, maybe it's time for the actors to start dressing like themselves again.
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