On Beetlejuice And Vintage Fashion
When my TikTok account started gaining more traction than expected, I found myself in a predicament. While studying theatre in college, I learned that “type” doesn’t just apply to casting – it applies to social media, too. As my audience grew, I thought back to a class where we talked about marketing ourselves as actors on social media and had a bit of a crisis. A branding crisis. Because the content I was (and am) putting out was (and still is) a hot garbage mix of vintage fashion and… Beetlejuice. Ya know, the 1988 Tim Burton movie that is only culturally relevant in October.
I stumbled into the surprisingly sizable Beetlejuice fandom in March and it was not unlike stumbling into London on the tail end of the Blitz. Amidst a dying fandom war, surrounded by rubble, it was only fitting that I wore my hair in victory rolls at the time.
Things were wild, but I’ll be a doll and spare the lecture. Fandoms tend to be a brutal place, but it’s possible to find a close-knit community that is both supportive and passionate. I found my way into a few Discord servers, and it was like joining an old-school fan club.
These fan-groups and my newfound hyper-fixation kept me sane during quarantine along with my newest hobby: TikTok. The app’s negative reputation put me off, but curiosity and boredom led me to the app store. Downloading it led to posting vintage fashion content. And somewhere between the lipstick and petticoats, I started talking about that other passion of mine. My Beetlejuice videos range from memes to analysis to commentary on the fandom and franchise. And people liked it. Now, I’ve carved out my own vintage-fashion-and-Beetlejuice TikTok.
Do you see the dilemma? I am not an “influencer” by any stretch of the imagination, but the image I’m putting out into the world is important to me. How on earth am I supposed to turn that into a unified brand?
I am so honoured to be writing for The Vintage Woman Magazine. When I was approached to write an article about Beetlejuice, any which way I wanted to go, I was ecstatic. Keeping with the theme of the magazine the theme of my TikToks: Why does vintage fashion and Beetlejuice fit surprisingly well together?
First, inherent kitsch.
We vintage-fiends tend to love our kitschiness, from the clothes we wear to the home décor we drag home from the flea market. Many “normies” would consider the vintage lifestyle intrinsically kitschy, no matter how classily one approaches it. Born in the 1950s, kitsch is marked by garish designs, bright, fun colours, bold patterns, a hint of irony, and a lot of sentimentality.
Tim Burton’s signature style holds a lot of those qualities as well, just with a Gothic, fantastical spin on it.
Beetlejuice, while not having anything to do with the 1950s, is its own breed of vintage tackiness. From Lydia’s fire engine red, Gunne Sax inspired wedding dress to Beetlejuice’s infamous stripes, there’s just a lot going on that can appeal to the vintage eye. Sandworms make great stand-ins for poodles on Halloween circle skirts, while monochrome stripes are a festive way to dress-up pinup wear.
Several well-known vintage-inspired brands have caught onto this, releasing both officially licensed and inspired pieces. Even a few fast fashion brands have come out with their own 1950s inspired merchandise.
Now here’s where it really matters: Beetlejuice promotes a strong sense of self-expression.
It takes a certain type of people to dress vintage on a regular basis. We draw attention in a crowd, we stand out, we have a deep passion for not only the clothes we put on our bodies but the history behind it. It’s a lifestyle. It’s a personality trait. And while I do not let it dominate me, in a way it is who I am as a person; the 1950s girl that goes around campus in seamed stockings.
It takes pride, a strong personality, social awareness, and a drive to break the mould and make a statement.
Fashion is the purest form of self-expression, and Lydia Deetz, that titular goth teen, is one of the best modern-day representations of this philosophy.
Lydia Deetz is the fashion icon I wish I grew up with. While I’m not goth, I have always been eccentric. My first foray into all things vintage was my 12 years-old steampunk phase and the obsession with Victorian fashion that came with it. Outside of Coraline Jones, from Coraline, I didn’t have much in the way of quirkily dressed female role models.
Lydia is probably the earliest fictional example of a woman, particularly a teen girl, who shamelessly partook in bold, new-at-the-time, traditional Gothic fashion. Her iconic image has had a lasting effect on not only alternative fashion but the alternative women who grew up with her.
Beetlejuice, both the movie and the cartoon, told a generation of young women that they can dress how they want and be whoever they want.
Is it a stretch? Possibly. But as the franchise continues to grow and a new generation of fans are introduced to such an iconic movie, I feel that it is important that we step back and take a look at how it can teach us to embrace that inner kitsch and express ourselves, whether it be through all things vintage or otherwise.