Baz Lurhman’s Romeo and Juliet- Use of costuming

The costuming throughout the movie has been altered into modern clothing. The costuming worn at the Capulet’s party symbolizes the position of the wearer in many different ways. Juliet and Romeo are often seen in white. Romeo appears in mostly blue tones or pale silvers while Juliet’s signature is pure white. Simple tones would emphasize that they are, in a way, like specters, the ones whose hold on life is the most tenuous.The white colour represents their beautiful, youthful and pure nature and creates a strong contrast with the people around them. In this scene, Romeo is dressed as a knight and Juliet as an angel. This visualizes what Shakespeare is implying – that Romeo sees himself as a knight in shining armour, and that for now, Juliet is his pedestal for perfection, it also shows the irony of Shakespeare’s implications by elaborating it into images, supplemented by costumes, lighting and music. Juliet’s white angel costume illustrates the concept of Juliet being so beautiful and pure that she is just like an angel and the colour white symbolises that she is very innocent and naïve. Romeo’s knight costume displays his youthful character, searching for his love.

Paris is an astronaut to show that his perfect nature and how he is “a man of wax” and is so perfect that he seems out of this world and also connects him metonymically to the heavenly Juliet.

Tybalt is dressed in a devil outfit with devil horns accompanied by his two “cronies” dressed as white-faced skeletons acts as a “foreshadowing for his violent end. It also tells the audience that they are the evil villains in this movie.

Capulet is dressed in a purple toga, symbolising a royal roman emperor who is very powerful and can do whatever he likes. Lady Capulet is wearing a Cleopatra costume which reveals her anxiety concerning her waning beauty and her vicarious pleasure at thought of her daughter wedding Paris. Her costume also suggests that she is not a faithful woman, and like Cleopatra, is famous for cheating. Benvolio’s monk costume exemplifies his role as peacemaker. Mercutio is dressed as a cross dresser to indicate that he is not on any side of the feud between the Montagues and Capulets.

When they meet for the second time after the party, Juliet no longer has her wings and Romeo has taken off his mask and armor, but part of their costumes still remains. This is to show that they have revealed the feelings for each other. The Montague/Capulet boys, on the other hand, provide a decidedly garish contrast to Romeo and Juliet. We see Romeo and his friends Mercutio and Benvolio dressed in colourful Hawaiian shirts and shorts at the beach. This shows that they are lively and invented their own way of wearing clothes to suit the climate and the surroundings. Their hair was very short and the lush Hawaiian-style shirts which were very vibrant and colorful, made everyone know who they were. The choice of costumes also aid in presenting the characters to the audience. Each one is dressed in a way that directly reflects his or her role in the story, thus making it easier to understand not only this scene, but also the characterization of these individuals throughout. Tybalt and his other fellow Capulets are often dressed in black, wearing ornamental and expensive pieces of clothing, and bullet-proof vests have become required accessories. This symbolises their evil, sinful characters underneath their more manicured and preening look.