Oh my goth! It wasn't so much as a glow-up as a blackout on the red carpet last night as Catherine Zeta-Jones and Joanna Lumley embraced their dark side for the return of Wednesday.
The gothic Netflix comedy/drama is embarking on a second series on Aug 6, and both actresses were in dark fantasy mode for the season’s global premiere in London. Catherine, returning to her role as Addams family matriarch Morticia, wore a suitably dramatic beauty look to basically cos-play the entire event.
Her smokey eye was a particular masterclass in the dark makeup arts, with an ultra-sooty charcoal liner pencilled all around her eye line, and deep rusty eyeshadow tones from her eyebrows down.
Her falsies-enhanced eyelashes were long and deliberately spider-like, matching neatly with the tarantula-shaped jewels crawling out of her ears.
And proving that the old ‘lips or eyes’ rule does not apply to Morticia, Catherine’s makeup artist Brett Freedman painted on a deliciously rich, merlot wine lipstick. Perfect for dripping poisonous asides to a rebellious daughter.
Swapping out Morticia’s usual long, straight style, Catherine's hair was swept into a striking, structural bun with a few spiky pieces poking out to lean into the arachnid theme.
She was joined on the red (okay, gothic purple) carpet by show newcomer Dame Joanna Lumley, who is playing Grandmama Hester Frump in season two.
Joanna, too, got into the dress-up theme, with an all-black outfit (complete with cape) and a goth-inspired beauty makeover.
Like Catherine, she went for a more-is-more makeup look that combined a dark smokey eye with a vampy red lip. Her hair stayed in familiar territory, worn in her signature softly backcombed updo style. Imagine Pasty from Ab Fab going to a Halloween party, and you’re getting the picture.
Fellow Wednesday newcomer Billie Piper looked almost pared down in comparison as she posed at the premiere sporting a slick of black kohl and a nude lip. Billie is joining the cast as Nevermore Academy’s head of music Isadora Capri, and definitely hit the right gothic notes with a full-length black string-necked dress.
While Billie's makeup looked almost low-key among the cast’s cos-players, there was no holding back on the goth theme for the show’s leading lady, Jenna Ortega. With her dark sulky lips and centre-parted hair, she looked uncannily like Christina Ricci in her days playing a younger Wednesday in the Addams Family movies of the 90s.
This season’s Wednesday Addams seems to be going through a typical teenage beauty rebellion, as her dark eyebrows have been totally bleached out. And to think this is the girl who said: ‘I’m not interested in participating in tribal adolescent clichés’....
