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romeo and juliet (2019)
Design Statement:
Philosophy of Mono no aware in Romeo and Juliet
Japan is a country that admires beauty of instance and mono no aware（物の哀れ）, which originated from the writer Motoori Norinaga in the Edo era. For example, Japanese people love cherry blossoms because its beauty and fleet, fall petal by petal when they are most splendor instead of decay. Putting it on people, mono no aware became a view of death. There’s a lot of famous Japanese suicided in history when they were young and reached their highest achievements. It’s also related to the idea of impermanence, for those artists in history, when they go further, the beauty will age, and the high success will gradually decline. So, they choose to stop at the apex point and death is another act of art, which remains the most beautiful impression to the world. In addition to only sad and miserable, the idea of mono no aware also includes the meaning of pity, sympathy, affection, and magnificence. It’s a very sensual way to see the happening things in the world.
I found similarity in this mono no aware with the play Romeo and Juliet, which indicates the most original feelings inside body and soul. Meet for the first time, know one person only by appearance, promise to marry immediately and suicide for each other. It shows the dramatic struggle for earning freedom for their original feelings. There’s also a very famous love story in Japan re-direct into Bunraku performance The Love Suicides at Sonezaki. In the performance of sad scenes in Japanese drama, instead of the exaggerated movements of Chinese and European dramas used to express their deep sorrows, Japanese use silence to endure the sadness and let the audience to feel the deeper mood of this scene.
colour source
The Marriage of Romeo and Juliet - Francesco Paolo Hayez
Inspired but not limited to the costume designer Eiko Ishioka’s work, especially The Cell and The Fall, which were commented by The New York Times as “simultaneously embraced the gothic, the otherworldly, the dramatic and the unsettling and was suffused with a powerful, dark eroticism”, I want to bridge East and West aesthetic together by bringing Japanese elements to Classic British clothing. In my opinion, Romeo and Juliet is not only about love and relationship. Characters in this play release their angers through violence easily and dramatically. Conflicts, between feudalism and anti-feudalism, between individuals and society, are the fundamental driving force behind drama and mainly resolved through violence as an intermediary. Pushing deep oppressiveness in mono no aware with strong conflicts and violence would be a new interesting combination in the design.
A lot of kimonos are designed to tell stories by themselves through the fluent patterns and symbolism, which I think could be used in my design. Also, the traditional Japanese masks could be referenced in the ball scene. The historical time period that I want to choose (for now) is 1422-1483 AD, during Henry VI and Edward VI, when people wore furs on their “V” shaped neckline and padded roll or wide headdress with soft veil on their head. They wore high-waist dress with a lot of beautiful patterns. For accessories, they wore long pendants and heavy necklaces. Another reason I want to do this period is there’s also lots of violence and turmoil happened in this uncertain time. I also found the headpieces in this period are not only hats but winding with hair and the shapes are very interesting, which will give me room to design.
Family emblems for the Montague and the Capulet, inspired by Japanese sword and family mon.
Color scheme for certain scenes.
Character Analysis
and Moodboards
Romeo
He is “a virtuous and well-governed youth” said by the Capulet, some descriptions from Juliet also suggest that he is a handsome wealthy gentleman. But on the personality aspect, he fell in love with Juliet just after he failed paying court to Roseline, showing that he is a passionate and temperament man with immature thoughts.
Because my concept is mono no aware, combing Japanese elements into the British costumes. I think his sleeves should be gather on shoulder, more fabric on the bottom part forming a squarish angle sewn together (small kimono sleeves) and slashed at elbow with some fur at the edge. There are two layers on the main body, the inner is a white stand collar with button front, the outside layer is partly with waves patterns, collar is lower and more square (mimic the shape of cross collar). For the fabric, I want to use lightweight linen or satin, and only the patterns part is velvet. I also have another thought about his clothes: not applying any Japanese structural elements but using a lot of wide patterned cuff-like edges.
Juliet
She is a 14 years old innocent young daughter of the Capulet and lady Capulet. Romeo describe her when they first met as “a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear” so she must be beautiful and stand out. She was very well protected by her family but quickly fall in love with Romeo and became a courageous independent “woman”, since she started to make decisions by herself.
The costume I want to talk about is when she wears at the ball. When everyone else is fancy-looking, what she wears has to be simple but bright enough to show her innocence and pure. Since the dress at that time has low neckline and under gown, I will turn the low neckline into a cross collar with wide edge referring to kimono. Under gown would be light goose yellow with dark grain of stripes, outer piece would be a semi-transparent organza with small floral patterns like unopened blossom (morning glory flowers, in Japanese culture it means short love; or cosmos, means pure love and girl’s heart). She will be not wearing any headdress, and let her long hair disperse on her shoulder.
Lady Capulet
Capulet’s wife, around 26. She married early and had Juliet when she is at Juliet’s age. She is rational, but irresponsible as a mother, dependent too much on the nurse and husband. Her marriage value is materialism, find the “perfect match” is the key. But she loves Juliet and Tybalt, or she won’t cry so much after Tybalt’s death and want to persuade Juliet to marry Paris.
She should be wearing a heart-shaped headdress with long back veil. High waist as well, her costume will have more fur trim pair with gold necklace set with stones to suggest her materialism. Her dress will be more draped (full or pleats) and have fur or ribbon trim with contrast color at the hemline. Instead of western flared sleeves, the sleeves will be square like a kimono sleeve.
Lady Montague
Romeo’s mother, Montague’s wife. She is rational, and her only lines in the play is “Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.”, like a admonish suggesting the central topic of the play. Dies after her son’s dead because of sorrow, which shows she paid so much love on her son.
In my imagination, she is a quiet and mysterious lady so she should have veils covering half of her face and attached to her humble fine wire frames with embroidery and fine beads. High waistline with a brooch trim (with Montague family emblems) and big kimono sleeves layered with tight sleeves inside, even her hemline is with plain binding to emphasize the humble. Her color will be darker to suggest her rationality and darker color also means responsibility in Japanese culture.
Paris
Mercutio
He is a loyal close friend of Romeo, kinsmen of Prince Escalus. When he describes love, he seems like hating and despising it:” If love be rough with you, be rough with love”. He is very practical and don’t understand any romance with love, so he sometimes throws out double meaning erotic words to satirize. It also shows that he is a very energetic, dramatic and playful young man.
I think he should be wearing a button down, front pleats, above knees clothing with bagpipe sleeves, the edges should have mottle color furs. The high stand collar should be with fur trim as well, because I though the material fur is very much related to the energetic and wild feeling of his characteristics. But more consideration with Tybalt’s costume, I hope these two characters have mostly similar silhouettes but very contrast colors. Mercutio should also have red geometric patterns on part of his costumes, since he loves to throw out double meaning erotic words to satirize love, I think wearing bold love suggesting red could be even more satirical. Also, He should be wearing a long fabric belt and very dragged cuff due to the time period and status.
Tybalt:
Capulet’s nephew, Juliet’s cousin. Good at using sword through Mercutio words. He is very aggressive and irrational, like courageous duelist looking for fight.
I think his costume should have wide pure black color fur edges, with a leather belt. Compared with Mercutio, his costume will be longer to let his movements more amplified, which suggests his irrational temper and sword skills; leather boots with pointy tip and felt hat with wide padded fur roll to show his wealthy family background. Multiple vents should be placed, and the shoulder will be made exaggerated and layered to relate with Japanese warrior.
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