Earlier this week, Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 epic Romeo + Juliet celebrated its 20th anniversary. We revisited the film’s many winning style moments — from the Capulet clique’s super sexy D&G suits to the Montague boys’ Vietnam-meets-mall-rat style (and, of course, Romeo’s custom Prada wedding suit) — and Luhrmann himself did, too. He spent the past week uploading unseen archival material from the film’s development on Instagram.
Yesterday, Luhrmann revealed that the hand-drawn mood boards, behind-the-scenes photographs, and personal making-of stories that accompanied these visuals were met with such enthusiasm from fans that he’s decided to put the materials on display IRL. To do it, he’s teamed up with a good friend: Opening Ceremony co-founder Humberto Leon, who says Romeo + Juliet “changed my life.”
The exhibition, according to Luhrmann, includes “original artifacts from the movie, including Leonardo’s shirt, jewelry, and the original hand collaged created boards.” It’s on view at Opening Ceremony’s OG New York home, 35 Howard Street, for the next week. “I want to dress like everyone in this film,” Leon wrote on Instagram. “I was in the middle of my schooling at UC Berkeley when this film came out and saw a student screening on campus. 20 years later, we have Leo’s shirt and other awesome mood boards to share with people to celebrate its anniversary.”
Some Instagram users are encouraging Opening Ceremony to reproduce the iconic Hawaiian-Japanese shirt, and for Luhrmann to compile his archival materials as a coffee table book. Others are really gunning for the exhibition to travel to other OC outposts — L.A. and London, in particular. Both Leon and Luhrmann are clearly just as excited about celebrating the film’s style legacy as its countless fans, so who knows where it might go next.
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Text Emily Manning
Image via Instagram