When the Broadway revival of “Romeo and Juliet” announced its two lead actors, Kit Connor (“Heartstopper”) and Rachel Zegler (“West Side Story,” “The Hunger Games”), earlier this year, it pointed toward a uniquely modern adaptation of the roughly 427-year-old play. The creative team behind the production also aligned with this zeitgeist-y Gen-Z casting.
There’s director Sam Gold, who’s revived other Shakespeare works in the context of the 21st century, plus Jack Antonoff — right-hand-man/songwriter/producer of Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Lana Del Rey — who scored the show. But arguably the “Romeo and Juliet” crew member most responsible for the production’s aesthetically pleasing, mesmerizing and youthful energy is costume designer Enver Chakartash. (Their other accolades include winning the “Outstanding Costume Design of a Play” Drama Desk Award last year for “Stereophonic.”)
“When you see kids at the mall and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, that kid is so cool’ because they’re wearing really cool pants and they have a cool kind of sensibility…That’s really what I wanted [for the costumes],” Chakartash tells Fashionista.
Upon entering the Circle in the Square Theatre, audience members are immediately immersed in a world of teens so intimidating, they’re likely to question their own “cool” factor. The entire cast is sitting onstage in outfits that one could easily see on any Dimes Square inhabitant or Parsons student. Across both the Montagues and Capulets, there are IYKYK fashion brands like Vaquera, Cold Culture, Y-3 and Salomon.
Photo: Emilio Madrid/Courtesy of Polk & Co.
“I did a lot of research around the kind of brands we wanted to reference,” says Chakartash. “I wanted it to look like Gen Z, but lift it to elevate it a little bit. [We] wanted it to feel contemporary and for young people to see themselves in it…I love that young people who are on TikTok and who are Gen Z are going to find things that resonate with them. [The looks] aren’t costume-y, they’re cool things that you could imagine wanting to wear.”
Juliet looks like today’s average tween girl at the top of the show (minus her brief moment in a shark onesie — a way to discreetly get her on the stage and an homage to Zegler’s role in “West Side Story,” which is based on the story of “Romeo and Juliet”). She wears loose-fitting cargo pants held up by a studded black belt along with a Brandy Melville-like camisole featuring a dainty bow at the center. She’s also noticeably the only cast member not in sneakers, instead wearing black Dr. Martens boots with pink puffy hearts on the side.
“The character of Juliet is 13 years old, so I really wanted her to look like a teenage girl,” explains Chakartash. “Our Juliet is also grungier and primarily in darker colors, so I felt like having these pops of pink reminds us that she’s actually just this really young girl. The shoes felt very Olivia Rodrigo — something super cool that a young person would want to buy but also has innocent and juvenile qualities, which I think is important in telling the story.”
Photo: Courtesy of Polk & Co.
Throughout the show, Juliet’s costumes portray the balancing act between immaturity and adulthood in which she exists, pairing childlike pieces with more grown-up ones. For the larger portion of the first act, she pairs a pink patterned training bra with a low-cut halter top, reminding the audience that, although she’s dealing with life-or-death situations, underneath it all, she’s still just a girl.
Romeo, on the other hand, quite literally has nothing to hide when it comes to his wardrobe. At the start of the play, he wears a black mesh tank top by Ludovic de Saint Sernin featuring an embroidered branch with budding flowers. Chakartash made a second version of the top for the show’s midsection with the flowers almost fully blooming (a reflection of his feelings for Juliet growing). At the end of the show, as Romeo stands over Juliet’s body, he wears a third and final version. This time, the fabric is a fully opaque black with white embroidery wrapping around his body in the shape of a harness.
Photo: Courtesy of Polk & Co.
Photo: Courtesy of Polk & Co.
“I had this idea because of the flower imagery in the set,” explains Chakartash, referencing the multicolored garden that gets revealed as Romeo falls in love. “It represents the inner world of Romeo and Juliet and the love between them. So it felt important to me to transpose that onto the costumes. [Kit] and I had a conversation and we decided Romeo is a Pisces. He’s more deep and emotional, so this [symbolism] translated really well.”
Because of his assigned astrology, Romeo also wears a Pisces pendant around his neck along with many rings. Juliet, a Leo, wears her star sign on a necklace, too, layered with other chunky chains and rose petal earrings. The supporting characters in the show also wear a significant amount of jewelry; the common theme among them is the entirely silver color palette — a choice made in response to other themes in the show.
Photo: Courtesy of Polk & Co.
“There was something about silver jewelry that really helped ground our work, and I also feel like people are really into silver jewelry right now,” says Chakartash. “There’s also so much amazing imagery we associate with ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ and we had talked about how to bring religion into [this production] without making it a huge anchor in the show.” (There are several cross appearances and one of Juliet’s shirts features Madonna and Jesus.) “I feel like if we had gone with gold jewelry, it would’ve felt more Catholic. So I wanted to keep it silver,” notes Chakartash.
Beyond the accessories, there are also two other key metallic ensembles in the show: When Romeo crashes the Capulet party intended for Juliet to meet her suitor, he wears fully sequined silver jeans and a matching jacket (which Chakartash admits was partly inspired by Troye Sivan‘s “Got Me Started” music video).
Photo: Courtesy of Polk & Co.
“When I spoke to Kit, he said that he felt like Romeo was older than his years and took himself more seriously. And there is something [more serious] about this outfit. He’s the most covered up, but it’s also the loudest. It is so spectacular, but also really simple,” says Chakartash. “It’s hilarious because he’s trying to be invisible at a party he’s not supposed to be at, but he’s wearing the [sparkliest] thing in the room.”
For Juliet, it was less of a character-inspired choice, seeing as she’s not on board with the man her father has approved for her to marry. “‘It felt like, if her dad was trying to marry her off to some guy and this is the first time they’ll be interacting, what would he put her in? And it was this tiny holographic gold sequined dress,” says Chakartash. “There’s also something to note about Juliet being the sun and, in the text, her saying to Romeo, ‘Don’t be like the moon, which changes its shape every day.’ So that was the thinking behind their colors.”
In that same scene, Romeo and his friends enter the party wearing masks to conceal their Montague identities: “We bought a couple of masks from this queer designer whose brand is called Pissy Pussy. My team and I are queer people on the scene and we know so many people that make amazing things. So we try to utilize that community, and I think that helps make the show feel really authentic.”
Photo: Courtesy of Polk & Co.
While Benvolio is wearing a stretch vinyl mask with a stitched mohawk and Balthazar is in a reflective fox-like mask, Romeo wears a more ominous style, which Chakartash sourced during a trip to Istanbul. “There was a stand selling the weirdest masks I’d ever seen, and I was like, ‘These are so perfect because it’s a recognizable [symbol] but there’s also something off about them,” they share. The mask Romeo wears is a silver glitter-covered skull, foreshadowing his impending tragic death. “Sam really loved it because it reminded him of the Zeffirelli [‘Romeo and Juliet’] movie.”
In the same vein, for the scene of Romeo and Juliet’s marriage, Chakartash selected a white-and-gray Alexander McQueen blazer: “It looks like flowers when you first look, but in photographs of the show, you can start to see these skulls coming through. What’s so great about McQueen and everything Sarah Burton has done is that it’s this whole thing about beauty and death. So, that suit jacket was also part of the foreshadowing.”
Photo: Courtesy of Polk & Co.
Another directly relevant-to-the-plot costume choice is the amount of Adidas apparel on stage: Besides the text, there’s nothing about the actors, set or otherwise that clue the audience into the story taking place in Italy. To Chakartash, the three-stripe track jackets and pants feel inherently European.
“The only direct nod we have to being in Italy is when Gregory wears an Adidas soccer jacket with the Italian colors and a little Italy flag,” they explain. Since that piece set the scene for the location, Chakartash made it the common thread throughout the show, including several Adidas looks on different characters, including Juliet’s nurse and cousin Tybalt, played by Tommy Dorfman.
“When we were looking for a second act outfit for the nurse, I was like, ‘It has to be a Y-3 skirt because it still feels like it’s in this world,” explains Chakartash. “It still has the Adidas branding, but it’s a long beautiful black skirt.”
Photo: Courtesy of Polk & Co.
The nurse/Tybalt’s wardrobe plays a large role in Juliet’s emotional journey. In the first act, they wear a leather jacket with darts, creating defined breast shapes at the front. “Because the nurse breastfed Juliet in the original text, we decided to really push the breast imagery with her outfits,” Chakartash says. “Once Tybalt dies, the jacket becomes a talisman and representation of them. So in the second act, it felt right to me that, when Juliet is grieving, the nurse passes the jacket to her.”
There are plenty more fashion moments within the show to admire, analyze and trace back to the 1597 story or a modern pop-culture reference. Ultimately, the carefully curated emerging designer looks and custom-made costumes all contribute to a larger achievement — attracting and inspiring the younger generations to come to the theater.
“When I met with Sam, he said he really wanted to engage young people, bring a new audience to the space and create a production that felt really contemporary and queer,” says Chakartash. “I think the costumes in this production are quite a big risk. They’re so out there because they’re not sensical in any way, but they totally capture the vibe of each character and [this generation].”
“Romeo and Juliet” is now playing at the Circle in the Square Theatre in New York City until Feb. 16.
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Source: Fashionista.com
