꒦꒷꒦꒷𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔅𝔬𝔤꒦꒷꒦

This interesting article speaks of the fashion facts around the costumes worn by the actors of the 1996 Romeo and Juliet as well as some Easter eggs even I did not know. 🤯

Out of 14 facts shown there, I'll post here only 4 that I find them interesting, to read the full list, click on the article above!

DANES’ ANGEL DRESS HAD A SECRET MESSAGE EMBROIDERED ON IT.

After reading the play, Barrett decided that Romeo and Juliet’s costumes should directly reference them as being an “angel” and a “knight,” respectively. But she also incorporated the “angel” line in a Phantom Thread-type of moment. “On Juliet’s dress, which I don’t think you can see, I printed written lines from the script in white. Romeo says in the script, ‘Oh, speak again, bright angel,’ which is why I dressed her as an angel, but I also printed that dialogue from that scene into her dress with white print,” explains Barrett. “I tried to do things for the actors that only they could see or have as their own thing. I thought that it would be an important kind of touchstone for them to have, things like pieces of jewelry and writing engraved on their guns, and in the Capulets’ case, it’s scriptures.”

THE HAWAIIAN SHIRTS HAD REFERENCES AND FORESHADOWING.

“We were trying to think what the Montagues would dress like. They’re just as religious [as the Capulets], but they’re also a different gang. I wanted them to feel like Miami Beach, like they probably surfed, they went to the beach, they wore Hawaiian shirts, they maybe could have gone into the military,” says Barrett. The result was a complete juxtaposition of the Capulets’ Latin cowboy style.

Barrett put the Montague dudes in brightly colored Hawaiian shirts, accessorized with dog tags and lots of jewelry. She also found the blue Japanese blossom-printed shirt that Romeo borrows from Father Laurence and wears through the end of the film at a shop in Miami, but everything else was hand-painted by Barrett’s team. The boys have references to Verona Beach, such as palm trees, the enormous Jesus statue, and other religious icons. However, Romeo’s shirt has other illustrations, such as the flaming heart (one of the movie’s recurring symbols) and lilies, which foreshadowed the movie’s tragic ending as the final scene shows Juliet holding the flowers when Romeo finds her seemingly dead in the church.

THE PARTY WAS A BIG OL’ SHAKESPEAREAN EASTER EGG.

Many of the party looks also paid homage to The Bard. While Lord and Lady Capulet were dressed as Shakespearean characters, so were many of the extras, giving sort of a meta nod to the scene. “I tried to populate the party with characters from Shakespeare’s plays,” explains Barrett. “If you look at the party guests, you’ll see that most of them were A Midsummer Night’s Dream characters. But I think in those days, we didn’t call them Easter eggs, right? It was just part of what we did; it wasn’t intentionally planting Easter eggs. But when I did Us, Jordan wanted to plant Easter eggs, that was a fun part of the process for him them, whereas when we did Romeo + Juliet, it was just part of what we felt would strengthen the visual story.” (During the fish tank scene, you can see a man at the urinal dressed in Renaissance wear, which is supposed to be William Shakespeare.)

MERCUTIO’S SHEER SHIRT WAS SYMBOLIC.

My mini print!

You can see in the background here that my shelving style is ‘alphabetical at one point, then just shove books in at random’ it means you get a lot of the same author in the same place, but that they could also have a book on an entirely different bookcase.

this was me tonight when i realized the LO free episode update had come and gone without my realizing it