The Addams Family's Leading Ladies Continue To Redefine Gothic Glamour As They Age

From the moment they first appeared in comic form on the pages of The New Yorker in 1938, Morticia and Wednesday Addams have served as the prototype for Gothic beauty and style. That became even truer when the strip became a TV series in 1964, where Carolyn Jones and Lisa Loring breathed life into Morticia and Wednesday, respectively. While the elegant Morticia Addams embodied dark sophistication with her form-fitting dresses and sleek rivers of raven hair, Wednesday's braided pigtails and Victorian tunic showed off the spunkier side of spooky.

Though Jones and Loring have departed our earthly plane for that great spooky mansion in the sky, they left a legacy that's been carried on by big screen stars of today. MGM may have reinstated the Addamses as an animated family in 2019, but the live-action movies of the '90s gave the actors a chance to powder their faces and get creepy and kooky. It seems to have been a formative experience for them, as they've maintained a flair for the macabre ever since, even today, bringing Gothic glam to the red carpet.

Christina Ricci was only a preteen when she played Wednesday Addams in 1991's "The Addams Family" and 1993's "Addams Family Values," but her spooky style (OshKosh Boo-gosh?) inspired legions of future goths. With follow-up roles in Halloween classics like "Casper" and "Sleepy Hollow," Ricci became the Goth it-girl of the '90s. She's leaned into the label even more in the following decades, both in her career with roles on TV shows like "Yellowjackets" and "Wednesday" (she plays a teacher in a fun nod to her onscreen beginnings) and in her style, favoring dark romance aesthetics and sleek brunette hair.

That penchant is made even more obvious by her recent media appearances. In April 2025, Ricci appeared on "The Jennifer Hudson Show" to promote the Season 3 finale of "Yellowjackets" wearing a very Wednesday-esque, puff-sleeved, button-down dress with a lace collar and tiny white polka dots. (She was ahead of her time: The lace trim trend brought vintage vibes to summer-to-fall transition wardrobes in 2026.) Later that year, she showed up to a career retrospective in her honor held by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation in a more Morticia-like, sheer, sparkly, body-skimming, and high-necked black dress (above right). Finally, in October 2025, she was spotted at the 5th Annual Academy Museum Gala in an ornately ruffled black dress and a funky bracelet bag by Chloé that was 100% her.

Meanwhile, Anjelica Huston was always the obvious choice for Morticia Addams in the '90s films. To this day, everyone remembers her '70s beauty looks, which included moody makeup and a pin-straight pageboy at a time when everyone wanted flaxen feathered hair à la Farrah Fawcett. Huston still has some Goth clout, but has transitioned to more of a "sport goth" style, as seen at the Los Angeles Comic-Con in 2024, where she appeared for an "Addams Family" reunion in a relaxed black matching set that she dressed up with a stack of necklaces, including a jeweled cross.

Huston still has a soft spot for gloomy elegance, however. That was definitely apparent on the "John Wick: Chapter 3" press tour in 2019, where she wore a square-neck, three-quarter-sleeved, fringed black midi dress with a pair of pointy black pumps at the New York City premiere (above right) and a spaghetti-strap gown with a sweetheart neckline and a dramatic twilight landscape decorating the hem, topped with a mesh overlay and bold necklace, for the Los Angeles premiere. Another place she likes to go Goth glam is the Vanity Fair Oscars party, where she wore a very Wednesday white-collared black dress in 2018 and a black gown with a dramatic mermaid silhouette and sunburst necklace in 2019. The takeaway: When you're wearing all black, accessories make all the difference.

Did you know Daryl Hannah took a turn as an Addams? It's true: In 1998, she played Morticia Addams in the straight-to-video "Addams Family Values" sequel, "Addams Family Reunion," opposite Tim Curry as Gomez (RIP). It may seem like a strange role for Hannah, who is better known for her California golden girl looks (her most famous role was an actual mermaid, you know), but she's not averse to a walk on the dark side, especially lately.

In 2023, Hannah arrived at the Grammy Awards, where she was nominated for Best Music Film alongside her husband Neil Young, wearing a black belted skirt suit over a pair of whimsical striped tights straight out of a Tim Burton film (above right). At the 2025 Oscars, Hannah showed up to present the Best Editing award wearing a black fishnet bustier and silk trousers. It may be true what they say: blonds have more fun.