How Juliet Capulet changed the way we dress

What light comes through that window? It’s east and Juliet is wearing Pacsun – at least she is in the current Broadway theater. Romeo + Juliet rebirth. A candy rave in iambic pentameter, the series stars Rachel Zegler as Juliet, who races across the stage in JNCO jeans and a vintage Britney Spears teddy bear keychain, Doc Martens covered in puffy purple hearts, and—during the famous balcony scene—a giant T-shirt and tiny flannel shorts from Victoria’s Secret Pink.

“We had a lot of Gaultier and Marc Jacobs on the mood board, but Juliet is a teenage girl,” says Enver Chakartas, the show’s Tony Award-nominated costume designer. Zegler’s Juliet flirts with Romeo in a sheer tank from Urban Outfitters, inspired by Bella Hadid. She wanders around “Fair Verona” in cut-off Levi’s and a long chiffon coat – a reference to FKA Twigs in her “Tears in the Club” video. Her “costume” for the famous masquerade ball is a sparkly cocktail dress with sparkly blue eyeshadow. She looks like what she is – a child who ran away from home in a rich and boring suburb.

Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

Rachel Zegler as Juliet Capulet Romeo + Juliet.

This Juliet take on the mall rat was met with hilarious praise from theater critics and delight from TikTok fans. But before the Shakespearean inventor became a regular at Panda Express, she was an inspiration for designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Vivienne Westwood and Miuccia Prada. “Visually, it’s easy to become obsessed with her,” adds Chakartas. “She is a symbol of what we all want. Something so deeply relatable. Everyone wants to fall in love, and everyone has unrequited love or ill-timed love. Juliet is a blank slate for us. Fashion helps us make it real.”

Below is a brief history of Juliet’s influence on fashion over the years.

1597

Juliet Capulet made her theater debut in 1597. Since women were not allowed on stage in Elizabethan England, she was played by a teenage boy. (He wore a corset, bodice, petticoats, and a wig to exaggerate the character’s almost divine femininity.) Shakespeare never gives us a detailed description of Juliet’s style, but Romeo is quick to call her a “bright angel” and a “sun.” continuity is the type of girl who can “teach torches to shine bright.” The production used lustrous fabrics such as silk and velvet, as well as beaded and pearl details to help Juliet shine on stage.

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Juliet Capulet in an English illustration from the 1700s.

Shakespearean actress Ellen Terry, Julia Margaret Cameron

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Shakespearean actress Ellen Terry, 16, Julia Margaret Cameron.

According to the Swiss writer Thomas Platter, who visited Shakespeare’s famous Globe Theater in 1599, some of the acting troupe’s outfits were second-hand by the theater’s wealthy patrons, including members of Queen Elizabeth’s court. This means that Juliet, a fictional teenage aristocrat, most likely wore the dresses of real teenage aristocrats. (Think of Shakespeare’s costumes as a 17th century version of “The Present Reality.”

1934

So when did the cool girls start dressing like Juliet Capulet and not the other way around? There were glimmers in the 19th century when Julia Margaret Cameron photographed Shakespearean actress Ellen Terry as a young bride, Julia Margaret Cameron, in 1864. In 1934, the Broadway production starring American heiress Katherine Cornell was so popular that photographs of the actress wearing dark, vampy-colored lipstick and a daring red velvet dress with a plunging neckline, however, made it to national newspapers and really took off. But this continued until 1968, when Franco Zeffirelli Romeo and Juliet which hit theaters starring 16-year-old Olivia Hussey, Renaissance Teens became part of the fashion lexicon.

1968

Fifty-five years ago, Margot Robbie wore everything pink. Barbie press On tour, British teenager Olivia Hussey promoted director Franco Zeffirelli’s version of the film. Romeo and Juliet in modern versions of his screen image. Juliet’s famous velvet dress by Danilo Donati was transformed into a velvet minidress in a 1968 TV interview. Her chic white cotton nightgown became chic premiere white satin dress on the red carpet at the Paris Theater in New York, where the film premiered.

Everett
Olivia Hussey starring in 1968’s Romeo and Juliet.

By then Seventeen In September 1968, she hosted a fashion special starring Hussey. She modeled the fast fashion equivalent of her own movie costumes. As designers such as Yves Saint Laurent and Ossie Clark moved away from the fashion’s tiny hemlines and angular shapes, Juliet’s longer, softer dresses served as a Shakespearean transition into a new era of fashion. Renaissance bodices and velvet bell sleeves from legendary ’70s designers such as Barbara Hulanicki and Biba’s Marion Donaldson echoed the trend. You can still see it today in nightgowns born in the Doen estate and tulle dresses with a bodice and formal but puffy sleeves from Khaite. In 2021, Taylor Swift referenced the film in her updated version of “Love Story,” wearing an ivory silk nightgown reminiscent of Hussey’s nightgown.

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Olivia Hussey in Romeo and Juliet.

But there is a bitter irony here: the 1968 version Romeo and Juliet Hussey and fellow teen star Leonard Whiting were portrayed as naked underage sex symbols – something both actors have denounced in recent years as the film industry embraces clearer language about consent and intimacy. This version is marred by nudity, but the film’s legacy endures largely because of the clothing.

In the 80s, the Juliet atmosphere gave way, making way for Working girlPadded suits and shawl-hemmed skirts can be worn with Denise Huxtable-inspired sweatshirts, as well as preppy sportswear staples like polos and mom jeans. But it turns out that Juliet was waiting in the wings for her next leading role. It won’t be long before she’s back in the spotlight.

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Claire Danes as Juliet, 1996

1996

When Baz Luhrmann Romeo + Juliet Released in 1996, it was a box office success and launched the career of 17-year-old Claire Danes, who played the film’s doomed heroine. Costume designer Kim Barrett made Juliet’s famous evening dress from heavy cotton and another white silk suit, similar to those made by Giorgio Armani, for her wedding scene. At the film’s Los Angeles premiere, Hollywood girls like Reese Witherspoon and Neve Campbell wore themed dresses with puff sleeves and crushed velvet. For the press tour, the Danes wore modest Miu Miu skirts and embroidered coats. Thanks to the recent appearance of E! and MTV News, millions of children could watch these fashion trends unfold on television after school.

“If you were a certain type of teenager, very fashion-obsessed, you would watch (Romeo + Juliet) as a teenager and said, “Oh my God, is Miu Miu in Shakespeare?!” – Chakartas laughs. “Everyone wanted to dress like that.” By February 1997, Anna Sui installed Juliet’s now-iconic angel wings on her runway models, and Betsey Johnson remade Juliet as Alec Wek (in a velvet minidress and giant cross) and Ling Tan (in a crushed velvet maxi dress with a “bleeding” » red eyeliner).

“We were coming out of that tough era of the late ’80s and early ’90s,” explains designer Nicole Miller, whose Capulesque bodices were a hit at fashion week at the time. “Everything was so hard. We were returning to a time of softness, emotion and femininity. It’s time to let your clothes lead you from the heart. And, of course, every evening we went to clubs. Channel Bar. Nell. Everyone’s attention. This image of ‘Juliet’ – you could see it everywhere in the ’90s, even if you didn’t watch TV or didn’t see the movie.”

2010s

The 2010s saw several noteworthy love letters to Juliet, including Valentino’s breathtaking 2016 couture collection, which reworked the heroine’s iconic red velvet dress in scarlet silk. Wildfox Couture’s 2011 “Montagues and the Capulets” collection turned Shakespeare’s tragedy into super-cute kids’ t-shirts and sweatshirts and paved the way for streetwear brands like X Girl and INTL Collective to put their own spin on the aesthetic, including these incredible pants.

Meanwhile, brands like Simone Rocha and Vivienne Westwood continue to channel Elizabethan romance into romantic looks on the runway. When asked why Juliet is still mentioned on Pinterest, designer Anna Shaheen of Cucculelli Shaheen insists it’s about the agency. “Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy,” she says. “But Juliet has fortitude – she is not complacent or helpless. She refuses to conform to convention.” For fall, she and her partner Anthony Cuculelli used opulent Renaissance-inspired embroidery on sharp, modern blazers to combine multiple incarnations of Juliet into one killer jacket.

2024

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Juliet Rachel Zegler in a satin Armani wedding dress after the famous final scene.

This past Fashion Month, Chloé and Collina Strada offered two of the most compelling takes on the modern Juliet, with understated silhouettes crafted from sheer, girly materials like organza and chiffon. Or you could showcase Zegler’s Juliet on stage in the white Armani satin column dress she wears in the show’s tragic final moments. According to Chakartas, the costume team created three versions of the dress so Zegler could roll around in fake blood and then wear a new one during his next performance. To clean the dresses between performances, the costume team soaks them overnight in cold water and Dawn dish soap.

Dressing like Juliet, Chakartas says, is a kind of purification. “Romeo and Juliet on the surface, it’s a pretty misogynistic play,” they explained. “But Juliet takes control of everything she can. She makes you root for her. It may not suit the character, but it gives all of us as viewers hope. You know, dressing like her gives you that kind of hope. Perhaps someday everything will change. Fashion gives you that chance.”

Faran Krentsil is a fashion journalist and critic based in New York. She is the founding editor of the magazine Fashionista and a graduate of Duke University. Her work has been published in the magazine Wall Street Journal, Fashion, Harper‘from Bazaarand much more.