A Treasury Of… Minneapolis Fashion and Interior Design Blog

For whatever reason, up until last night I had never seen West Side Story in any incarnation. The Heights, a renovated 1920s theater in my old neighborhood had a restored 70mm print of the original screening all this week, so I finally found out what the fuss was all about.

Much has been written about James Dean’s iconic red jacket in Rebel Without A Cause but the snazzy citron number Russ Tamblyn wears as Riff throughout West Side’s opening scenes hit me as even more inspiring.

Paired with sullied sky-blues and dingy grays, the use of a Riff-y yellow todays strikes a fresh and yet firmly retro note.

Yesterday-yellow doesn’t seem like the most wearable color initially, but really, paired with tans and blacks, military greens or white-ish creams, there’s few colors that wouldn’t rock right with Jet yellow.

I remember Apolis Activism had some acidic-tinted denim pants that Riff could’ve rolled in. I’m gonna beat the streets and see if they turned out anything else in that same shade. I got turf to protect, y’see, and I best look the part.

Indexed Under: Fashion, Film