Analyzing and comparing the costumes of West Side Story (1961) and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story (2021)
A musical classic West Side Story is set to the sound of Bernstein and Sondheim splattered across the backdrop of the Upper West Side. Dazzling yet bittersweet, West Side Story draws major inspiration from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, a “modern” retelling of the story set in 1957.
The story follows Maria, a young Puerto Rican immigrant who arrives in New York City to live with her older brother, Bernardo, in search of a better life. However, the part of Manhattan she lives in is ruled by rival gangs: the Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang led by Bernardo, and the Jets, a white gang led by Riff.
Maria falls for Tony, a former member of the Jets, after sharing a heartfelt dance at the gym. Their love connection is magnetic, and they can’t bear to live without each other, even as tensions rise. Their newfound love causes further division between the rival gangs, resulting in a rumble. The rumble ends in the death of Riff and Bernardo, effectively ending any chance of peace between the gangs.
After learning of her brother’s death, Maria realizes America is not what she wants for herself. However, she loves Tony so much that she doesn’t let him turn himself in. Maria and Tony decide that they should run away together and leave under the cover of night. Anita, Bernardo’s girlfriend, is horrified to know about Maria and Tony’s relationship. But Maria convinces Anita of their love, and Anita searches for Tony to tell him where to meet Maria.
However, before the lovebirds can make their escape, another member of the Sharks named Chino shoots and kills Tony. The story ends with Maria heartbroken and alone.
When it comes to this heartbreaking yet beloved story, there is a major amount of nostalgia as well as cultural poignancy. For its time, it wasn’t common to see Latino-led musicals that also featured the harsh realities that so many people face. That’s why West Side Story is so important. It's more than a beautiful musical—it’s a thoughtful and raw truth often ignored in the musical genre.
In the original film adaptation, directed by Jerome Robbins (The King and I, Bells Are Ringing) and Robert Wise (The Haunting, The Sound of Music), the coloring for the costumes featured was vibrant. Legendary costume designer Irene Sharaff (An American in Paris, Cleopatra) did this on purpose. She wanted to take advantage of the technicolor used for the film. For the gangs, their coloring is distinct and obvious—you can see a member of the ensemble stand off to the side and immediately know if they’re a Shark or a Jet based on their costume: black, purple, and shades of red for the Sharks; blue, yellow, and orange for the Jets.
In her 1976 biography, Sharaff commented: "Those [jackets] worn by the gangs in West Side Story were varied by using one color in front, another in the back, with a sharp narrow satin edging, again in contrasting color, so that as the dancers moved, their jackets seems faceted in color.” She continued: “The t-shirt, which up to the fifties was worn solely as underwear, when dyed, gave the dancers the air of trapezists.” The jackets for the gangs were an ingenious touch by Sharaff because they float and flap while the gangs perform their famous side-jump arabesque.
Sharaff drew major inspiration from the Italian Renaissance and Elizabethan England for the costuming. The sharp shoulders in the jackets and collared tops act like a doublet, while the color blocking and seam contrast are a modern twist on embroidery, or maybe even royal crests.
In the 2021 version, the Spielberg cinematography often took a more muted approach to raise the dramatic feeling, except in a few scenes/songs. To match this, costume designer Paul Tazewell (Hamilton, The Color Purple) chose to dress the rivals in muted tones. Tazewell’s take features the Jets in muted blues, greens, and denim, while the Sharks are featured in rusty warm colors like red and gold, and khaki pants. Even though the tone of the costumes is different in the modern retelling, they still pop against the neutral backdrop of concrete that makes up New York City. Culture was an incredibly important part of his costuming choices—in Speilberg’s version, tropical and floral prints are explicitly reserved for Puerto Rican characters to show how their culture is infused into their everyday lives.
In an interview with GQ, Tazewell said he chose to do the costuming this way because “the audience [knows] when they sense a warm kind of environment that they are coming from the point of view of the Latinx community; when it’s more cool tones, the blues, and the greens, that’s the Caucasian community.” Interestingly, the Jets are the only gang members that wear jeans in the 2021 version. Tazewell made this choice to show the Jets in jeans because they are “a very American symbol.” There is not a time where a Shark is seen in denim and this further shows the division between the two groups. Both gangs have their cohesive look, but each member also has a style that shows off their personality.
The famous dress Moreno wore while dancing on a rooftop to the song “America” had very thoughtful construction. The bodice is form-fitting, while the skirt has a dropped waist. Sharaff did this so that the dress had two purposes. First, to look like a dress a girl at the time would realistically wear to a dance, and second, to create the illusion of a skirt resembling a ballerina’s tutu. The skirt is full enough to give that effect, but the extended bodice line is long enough so that the skirt flares as she dances to capture the beauty of the gathering and the petticoat.
As she moves, so does the skirt, acting as Moreno’s dance partner while she tells us of the idyllic American way of life. The skirt flies as she lifts it to her shoulders, perhaps referencing a bomba skirt. While Anita dances during the “America” scene, the audience can see how hypocritical she can be. Anita sings about embracing American modernity (she mentions skyscrapers), yet she still holds traditional Puerto Rican values. We also see throughout the film how much she objects to gang culture, yet she continues to be dressed in gang-associated colors.
Anita is expressive and passionate, especially for those she cares about. She loves and loves big, and her costumes in both films greatly express that. It’s all expressed in her body and through her dress.
In 2021, Anita’s iconic purple is changed to a vibrant yellow with a fiery red underskirt. Portrayed by Ariana DeBose, the intense choreography she performs shows off the beauty of the dress even more. Tazewell discusses DeBose’s portrayal in an interview with PopSugar: “Anita is the sun. All her energy radiates and seeps onto everyone around her, bringing them hope as well.” Tazewell’s comment is interesting because although the character has the shiniest personality, she endures the second darkest event in the story. Even after her assault, she refuses to deny who she is or let it dim her shine. She delivers the most important line in the film when she says, “Yo no soy Americana. Yo soy Puertorriqueña!” (“I am not American. I am Puerto Rican!”)
Out of the many outfits Maria wears throughout the film, the dress she wears at the dance is the most iconic. When reimagining Maria’s dress, Tazewell said, “When [Steven Spielberg] asked me to design the show. . . he wanted the white dress for Maria to stay part of the design.” In the 1961 version, Sharaff dressed Wood’s Maria in a white dress complete with a red sash.
The white dress represents Maria’s innocence, seeing as she is inexperienced with both the American social scene but also with boys and romance. This innocence, of course, would later die at the end of the film when Tony is killed. The white is also a symbol of purity and a connection to her religion.
The first time we see Maria, she is getting ready and dons the simple white lace dress made by Anita. But her face in the mirror when she looks at herself tells us something isn’t quite right—there’s a piece of her look that’s missing. In the original, Natalie Wood wears a solid red sash around her waist. In the remake, Maria’s red sash is exchanged for a red buckle belt. Tazewell goes on to say, “Anita take[s] the belt off of her outfit and [hands] it over to Maria... it’s a metaphor for ushering her into womanhood.”
Maria is the only character to wear solid white, further establishing her as an outsider. If her accent or mannerisms didn’t give her away, her fashion choices do. In each scene, she stands out, even when she is unsure of herself or if she tries to blend in. This is exactly why Tony falls for her in the first place—she is unlike anyone he has ever seen or ever met. Their attraction appears to be cemented in what the rest of society considers total opposites, but in reality, their heartbeats harmonize to create one melody.
Alyssa Guevara is a blog writer for Revolution. This article was edited by Meliha Ural.
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