What is the Historical accuracy of the tights in 1968 Romeo and Juliet?

Answer 1

The historical accuracy of the tights in the 1968 film Romeo and Juliet is accurate.

Romeo and Juliet was written during Shakespeare’s time. Shakespeare lived between 1564-1616. During that period men wore hose in society. Young men usually wore shorter doublet tops with form

fitting hose or tights. The hose might be a single color or a mixture of two colors.

The preferred silhouette for men was fitted, with their doublets emphasizing the broadness of their shoulders. It was not seen as crossdressing or humorous at the time. All men wore tights, women did not.

Wearing fashionable hose with strong legs to display them in would have been a sign of vitality to other men. It would also help garner the attention of women.

Today women are the ones who wear tights in society. The leggings as pants fashion is similar to the style men wore in Shakespeare’s time. More recent productions of Romeo and Juliet dress their men in looser fitting bottoms to reflect this new social norm. Since women are now the ones who typically wear tights today, its considered odd or humorous to have men wearing tights.

Answer 2

This is a silly question. The tights in the 1968 Romeo and Juliet are no more or less accurate than the pants in the 1996 one. They are what the director wanted the characters to wear. Tights of that kind were in fashion between 1450 and 1500. Presumably that is the era which Zeffirelli wanted to evoke.