How Hocus Pocus 2 Delivered “Cosmic Costume Design”

For Emmy-nominated costume designer Salvador Pérez, Hocus Pocus 2 required crafting costumes for new characters that established deeper, more powerful relationships within a film that brought the Sanderson sisters back from the dead once again.

The Young Witches

The goal for costuming Hocus Pocus 2‘s young witches (played by Taylor Paige Henderson, Nina Kitchen and Juju Brener) was to make them instantly recognizable as the younger versions of Winifred (Bette Midler), Mary (Kathy Najimy) and Sarah Sanderson (Sarah Jessica Parker), respectively.

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Drawing inspiration from the pilgrims seen in the original film, Pérez began creating by demolition. “That era of fabric was very textural. So I bought beautiful fabric and then destroyed it,” he says. “The wool was a beautiful cashmere blend until I put it in the washer and dried it with some tennis shoes to make it nubby.”

Pérez then added a faint dye to the white of each of the costumes for added visual cues. Instead of using gray for cool or brown for warm (industry standard when dying fabric for the camera), Pérez dyed Young Winnie’s costume pale green, Mary’s pale burgundy, and Sarah’s lavender. The effect is a dirty white on camera but offers a subtle nod to each character.

To top off Winnie’s and Mary’s looks, Pérez added handmade bonnets that preserved the Sanderson sisters’ trademark hairstyles. “I couldn’t change their hair,” Pérez notes. “Director Anne [Fletcher]’s point was that, on top of their silhouettes being iconic, their hair was the most identifiable thing on each of them.”

The Witch Mother

Inspired by Salem, Massachusetts’ indigenous and endangered red-winged raven, the Witch Mother’s (Hannah Waddingham) is the most significant costume in the film.

“Originally, I did a blue version and a red version,” says Pérez. “Then I did this sort of astral-looking crown, but Hannah is such a presence, we didn’t want it to distract from her.” Pérez then decided on the more “Wiccan-looking” red version of the costume after noting that the blue looked too angelic.

“She really dictated parts of that costume,” says Pérez of Waddingham. “I found these rings by Alexis Bittar that were ridiculously expensive, but we were going to put one on her.” Not knowing Waddingham’s ring size, Pérez purchased the rings in a wide variety of sizes and laughs recalling how Waddingham put on all the rings to create the Witch Mother’s glamorous yet vicious taloned look. “[She] made that costume come to life.”

Creating a costume based on an ink-black bird presented a problem, however. “If I had put a black cape on a black dress, she would have disappeared,” Pérez says, noting that the Witch Mother’s scene is set at night. To make the costume’s silhouette pronounced, Pérez layered brilliant shades of red on the bodice before ombré-dying the costume’s hems to make it look like the Witch Mother “had been walking in the forest for 400 years.” For a further feathered look and to brighten the Witch Mother’s cape, Pérez used shredded pieces of orange, yellow and red chiffon at the costume’s neckline and shoulders. Coincidentally, this created a subtle nod to the Halloween costume worn by Dani (Thora Birch) in the original film. “That one wasn’t on purpose,” Pérez admits with a laugh. “It was a very happy coincidence — like cosmic costume design.”

But Pérez found his greatest means of storytelling through extensive detail work, the likes of which were lost to viewers before the wonders of high resolution. For the Witch Mother’s pendant (which becomes Winnie’s), Pérez used malachite and carnelian — stones significant in Wiccan culture and sourced locally in Providence, Rhode Island (where Hocus Pocus 2 was filmed). The spellbook’s eye — the most prominent symbol used in the sequel — can be found on almost every costume in the film, from the blazing, hand-embroidered version seen on the Witch Mother to the more subtle print on the shoes of the mayor’s daughter Cassie (Lilia Buckingham).

Gilbert the Great

As the only contemporary character in the sequel to have ever seen the Sanderson sisters during their first haunting of Salem, Gilbert (Sam Richardson) is given a unique origin story in Hocus Pocus 2. To establish it, the film flashes back to 1993 to see teen Gilbert (Jaylin Pryor) trick-or-treating through the streets of Salem dressed in a well-worn wizard costume when the witches zip overhead on their brooms.

“Gilbert sees them,” says Pérez excitedly.

That little wannabe wizard then grows up to be Salem’s guru on all things Sanderson sisters — and Pérez made sure that his costume reflected this. “I thought, if I was a little boy and this was my favorite costume, and I am now a grown man with the means to do whatever I want, I am going to make the very glamorous version of that costume.”

The result is a luxurious white velvet cape specially dyed and covered with as many star appliqués as Pérez could find, with a matching cap bearing the spellbook’s iconic eye symbol.

“If I was able to take a costume home,” Pérez muses, “Would it be the Witch Mother’s or Gilbert the Great’s? I just don’t know … ’cause I really want that cape.”

This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.