Gael García Bernal’s Cassandro Wardrobe Is a Symbol of the Luchador’s Power

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Gael García Bernal struts around the lucha libre ring, swaying his near seven-foot long ruby red cape around like royalty. And he is—at least in his latest role as Cassando, a history-making Mexican-American luchador who is practically a king to Mexican wrestling fans.

To some, Bernal’s costume is merely a part of Cassandro’s showmanship, but the length of the coat, its grand ornateness, and even the colors of his gold unitard emblazoned with bright stars are all symbolic of the wrestler’s rise to eternal fame. One of the most celebrated exótico wrestlers, Cassandro began his career as your average luchador. His costume was simple. His mask was run-of-the-mill. Nothing about him stood out—and that’s exactly the way he wanted it since exóticos, who embrace more feminine characteristics in their costuming and mannerisms, were not allowed to win matches. In addition to the homophobia he’d have to face in the ring as an exótico, Cassandro wanted nothing more than to be a great luchador, and to do that, he needed to win.

“He goes through a huge evolution,” says award-winning costume designer Mariestela Fernandez, who led costume developments for Cassandro. “He started off being very plain, always trying to hide the fact that he was gay. Then, as he started to come out and started to assume himself as the lucha he was; he started off finding his true self and started designing his own stuff.”

Using his mother—a flamboyantly dressed woman whose closet was overflowing with animal prints—as his inspiration, Cassandro began using his luchador wardrobe to express his sexuality and define himself within the Mexican wrestling community.

In the film, we see Cassandro (born Saúl Armendáriz) rifling through his mother’s clothing to find an outfit for his first fight as an exótico. He lands on a cherry red tank top with a vibrant pattern down the center and one of her many scarves. He finishes his introductory look with a pair of jean booty shorts and make-up to match. He’s greeted with a series of boos and slurs from the crowd, but it’s the first time we see Cassandro truly embracing his identity as an openly gay wrestler. His confidence skyrockets and, even though he loses the match, it catapults his career as an exótico.

But his loss is only momentary. The next time we see Cassandro in the ring, he’s wearing a leopard print unitard inspired by his mother. He shimmies around his opponents, egging on the luchadors and the crowd. But, rather than admit defeat as exóticos are expected to do, Cassandro breaks from tradition and wins the fight.

“Before Cassandro, exóticos would always have to lose the lucha. No matter how good the lucha was, they were never allowed to win,” Fernandez explains. “Once Cassandro starts winning, because he’s a hell of a good luchador, then he comes out. It’s like coming out in many ways as a luchador, as an exotic, and allowing for the exotic community to win and to show themselves their qualities as a luchador regardless of sexual preferences.”

In seven weeks, Fernandez designed and manufactured about 50 different luchador costumes—including the intricate uniforms worn by Bernal—and ’90s fashion for characters outside of the wrestling ring. It’s no easy feat, especially when almost all lucha libre costumes are under copyright. She had to start from scratch, imagining different fighters inspired by the elements and even animals. Not only had Fernandez never created original costumes for a film before, but all of the luchador costumes had to be custom-made by specific manufacturers in order to be functional for the film—especially the masks, which needed to be precisely measured to fit each actor.

For her, it was more like designing for a stage play than a movie, but it was a challenge she was more than happy to take on. With minimal direction, Fernandez allowed her imagination to run wild. In some cases she found inspiration for costumes from just the stage names of the fighters themselves. In the film, there’s an exótico named Big Lola, which inspired Fernandez to create an outfit similar to one worn by the Mexican singer called Lola Beltrán, who was known for her frilly white dresses.

Still, costume design can make or break a film. It sets the time period, the social class, even the character’s own subtle development. Fernandez believes it’s most important to build a character from the inside out, especially when it comes to period pieces.

“You have to get the audience by the hand, bring them to the period, and then let them forget about the period,” Fernandez explains of her approach to Cassandro, which takes place in the mid-nineties. “For me, the best costume design always is the one that immediately tells you who the character is, the moment of the story, then you kind of forget. You must not put too much attention on it. What’s important is the character [and] the story, always.”

Vibrant patterned shirts and denim were staples for this particular film, but the outfits for one particular character—Felipe—truly stand out. Played by Bad Bunny, the character is a local in Cassandro’s go-to bar and often provides the luchador with cocaine on his nights out. In one scene, his patent leather jacket easily reminds viewers of the time period with its distinctive red racer line cutting across his chest.

Although Fernandez says she’d heard of Bad Bunny prior to starting Cassandro, the self-described “rock-and-roll girl” just saw him as Benito at work. “There I go with all my things to his trailer and [I put together a ton of outfits] and when I was finished, all he says is, ‘I like everything; I might even want one belt, I can buy it from you at the end.’ And I say, ‘If you behave, you can.’ Imagine me saying that to Mr. Bad Bunny,” she laughs. “He was the most disciplined sweetheart, and we had lots of fun with him. He loved the costumes, and I think he looks great; he's one of my favorite ones from the everyday life of Cassandro.”

Fernandez also worked with El Hijo del Santo, the son of famed luchador El Santo and a Mexican wrestling legend in his own right, on the film. For his appearances, El Hijo del Santo brought archived pieces from his private collection. And, yes, he did wear the same suit and lucha uniform that he wore in the nineties during the highly anticipated Mexico City fight that appears in the film.

While many of the outfits worn by Bernal in the film are inspired by the same ones Cassandro wore during his rise to fame, Fernandez allowed herself some interpretation of what the luchador would have done if he’d had more resources to design those costumes.

“Gael was gracious with me because I had like five fittings with him—long ones, exhausting—all of these materials are Spandex and you sweat … It’s like doing exercise,” Fernandez says. Her dedication to expressing Cassandro’s identity through clothing is marked by a delicate focus on details and symbolism. For her, it was particularly important to show just how important clothing can be to expressing oneself.

“I think it’s a very important story. Cassandro is important for the world of lucha and for the LGBT+ community, and for Mexico as well on our path of being inclusive,” she says of the film. “The world is huge and we all belong and we all fit. We need more films like that on the planet right now.”

Cassandro is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Watch Now

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