In this week’s blog, Costume Society’s News Editor Dr Babette Radclyffe-Thomas reviews The World of Tim Burton at the Design Museum.
The World of Tim Burton has arrived at its final stop of a decade-long world tour which has seen it visit 14 cities in 11 countries. This is the first and only time Burton’s archives have been seen in the UK, and the exhibition has seen the largest advance ticket sales in the museum’s history – at the time of opening, over 32,000 people had already booked tickets.
Celebrating Burton’s signature creepy, surreal and imaginative visions, the exhibition is organised by Jenny He, Independent Curator, in collaboration with Tim Burton, adapted by Maria McLintock for the Design Museum and presented in partnership with Harvey Nichols.
“For Tim Burton, each film begins with a drawing, that he often returns to over time, almost like old friends. We’re thrilled to be displaying so many of these deeply personal works at the Design Museum, in the heart of the city he’s called home for over 20 years. This hugely successful show has delighted audiences across the globe for over a decade, but our Design Museum reimagining, with many new additions and new narratives, means this is an unprecedented opportunity to be immersed in Tim Burton’s unique and singular vision,” McLintock, curator of The World of Tim Burton at the Design Museum said.
600 items from over 50 years of Tim Burton’s creative output including hundreds of artworks and many garments are on display. Objects are on loan from his personal archives as well as key film studio archives such as Paramount, Amazon MGM Studios and Warner Bros. Over 18 of his films spotlighted and for this London edition, the exhibition has been specially adapted, expanded and reimagined for the Design Museum, with over 90 new objects added.
The exhibition commences with his childhood and ‘Suburban Beginnings’ where a recreation of Burton’s private studio shows his creative process, before entering ‘Crafting Imagination’ that examines his work with stop-motion animation and his inspirations. The next section ‘Building Worlds’ is where the majority of the exhibition’s costumes are and looks at 14 major projects. Building Words refers to the two worlds co-existing in Burton’s work: the conventional normal world and the imaginative other world.
A new aspect of the exhibition is the focus on his long-term collaborations with costume, set and production designers. Burton’s collaborations with these designers bring his monochromatic, eerie yet beautiful visions to life. Costumes from some of his most famous films are on show, from Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman costume from 1992’s Batman Returns to more recent highlights such as Wednesday Addam’s viral Rave’N dance dress from Wednesday (2022-).
“Costume plays such an important role in world building,” McLintock shared during the press preview. “Costume embodies the emotional register and the aesthetic of Burton’s films and Burton has worked with a range of very talented designers”. The curation team worked on this iteration for over a year, and was an emotional and exciting experience to work on so many iconic films, many of which they grew up watching.
Burton’s collaboration with costume designer Colleen Atwood is a particular highlight of the show. Colleen Atwood’s distinctive costume for Edward Scissorhands (1990) worn by Johnny Depp, is shown alongside Bo Welch’s set design models, Stan Winston’s scissor hands and several very early character sketches. This costume marked the start of her collaboration with Burton and she used vintage leather crafted by a tailor for ballet dancers, who had experience designing to allow for a range of movement in restrictive costumes. “I always embrace the architecture of the whole film; I think it’s really important in costume. You’re creating a world together,” Atwood has said.
Katrina Van Tassel’s black and white striped dress from 1999’s Sleepy Hollow, worn by Cristina Ricci and designed by Colleen Atwood reflected late 19th century clothing in the United States. If you look closely enough you can see how every black stripe was hand painted and she also created multiple iterations of the Headless Horseman costume that was adapted in each scene.
For this edition of the exhibition, Catwoman’s rubber and latex suit designed by Bob Ringwood and Mary Vogt for 1992’s Batman Returns is on display for the first time. Burton has envisioned a character composed of patchwork with white stitching, reflecting the duality in her role – a meek office secretary by day and a sexy feline by night. Pfeiffer was literally stitched into the costume for filming and painted in wet silicone to achieve the authenticity of shine. The costume is displayed flat due to its intense delicacy and deterioration over time, and the costume illustration shows Burton’s stitched motif that frequently appears in his work.
This also marks the first ever public display of the Rave’N dance dress worn by Jenna Ortega in character as Wednesday Addams. Colleen Atwood’s school uniform designs are also shown alongside initial concept drawings.
‘Drawing Narratives’ shows a large amount of artwork, before the exhibition closes on ‘Beyond Film’ showing designers who have been inspired by the Burtonesque such as photographer Tim Walker. In this final section is an Alexander McQueen gown, who shared a renegade spirit and dark romanticism with Burton, which was immortalised in the Supercalifragilisticexpialidocius A/W 2002 show. Starting with a dark tone and becoming more romantic, the collection reflected McQueen’s view of life as a Grimm fairytale. Burton’s hand-drawn invitations inscribed with “and the show begins howling!” are on show, and beyond the show, Burton also created drawings for McQueen’s runway looks.
Throughout the exhibition are hundreds of Burton’s sketches and drawings, and are shown alongside costumes, props and set pieces, showing the journey characters have taken from his initial sketches to the silver screen. There are many clips from films.
The exhibition is a creepy clever transformation of the space that plays with specific landscapes reminiscent of Burton’s films such as angular corridors and soundstages, while a custom soundscape by sound designer Tomi Rose captures Burton’s eerie and magical world.
The exhibition runs until 21 April 2025.
