Wicked (2024) Costume Design by Paul Tazewell

Wicked (2024) Costume Design by Paul Tazewell

The Wicked costumes? One word: Magic.

Paul Tazewell was nominated for a Best Costume Design Academy Award last week for his work on Wicked. “What excited me about Wicked was designing a world rooted in period silhouettes while also creating a fantasy” (Hollywood Reporter). His team of 70 created over 1000 costumes for the production. Here, we hone in on a few highlights. 

He spoke with Teen Vogue about creating the costumes: “My approach to Elphaba was to connect her to nature and to a world that is organic and grounded. That connection to nature speaks to her advocacy for animals. I was looking at a lot of textures of roots and design lines of roots, bark, mushrooms, and all those things when you turn over a log in a forest — the mystery and beauty of what that is and how that relates to her as a character.” He said that he put her in black as a signature colour partly as a nod to her mourning her mother. 

He created 6 different Wicked Witch hats before landing on the right one. “You don't know exactly what you are seeing until you are right on top of it. That was some of the inspiration for texturizing the surface and some of the shape. It's not a perfectly pointed symmetrical hat but was given more personality” (Forbes). 

Elphaba’s style is inspired by 1890s fashion, in homage to the original Margaret Hamilton witch.

The textural details of her Emerald city dress are mesmerizing. Her “dress contains micro pleated chiffon applied in an undulating wave pattern. When you are far away from her it almost looks as if it's velvet. Move closer and you see it's a textural and sinuous wave pattern wrapping around her body, while the silhouette overall stays very pristine” (Forbes).

Galinda’s bubble dress was created in reference to Billie Burke’s pink dress (designed by Adrian) from the original Wizard of Oz film but with a modern, more sculptural interpretation. 

“There were so many hands that went into it. Our top layer was silk organza, but then when you open it up, it’s almost like a Charles James evening gown where there’s structurally a hoop skirt underneath. There was nylon organza, as well and all these crinoline cons that are made out of spirals that then carry the fabric that’s been printed and foiled with a bubble fabric that swirls around. All of that is then beaded and sequined” (Teen Vogue). He further clarified: “Each of the [bodice] spirals is individually printed with a swirling bubble pattern that is then overfoiled with an irredescdent print, and embellished with crystal beads and iridescent sequins. The bodice is pavéd with swirls of beads and crystals and topped off with a butterfly shaped neckline to set off Ariana's beautiful shoulders and neck” (Forbes). 

Ariana spoke about this dress in her ‘Actors on Actors’ Variety interview with Paul Mescal. She said that there were 16 layers to the dress which had to be snapped on. She enjoyed the contrast between the dress being so light and airy versus the emotional heaviness of what she had to do in that opening scene announcing the death of Elphaba. The bubble motif was brought through to her silver diamanté tiara. “Iridescence and translucence are very important in the theme of her wardrobe” (Teen Vogue). 

Her pink peignoir carries through with the spiralling motif and references Hollywood glamour. 

Tazewell used 3D printers while designing many of the jewellery and accessory items, which he noted was a huge technological aid that he didn’t have access to in the past. 

There was a nod to the original film in the form of the tornado design of Nessarose’s crystal slippers, which themselves reflect the ruby slippers from the 1939 film. The slippers were silver in the Frank L. Baum book. 

Tazewell was previously nominated for an Academy Award forward for his work on Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story (2021). He has been designing costumes for theatre, dance, opera and television for almost 30 years. He has so far won a total of 6 Tony awards. He won a Costume Designers Guild Award for Hamilton in 2021. He may be set to win his first Oscar this March. Check out his Instagram for an in-depth and behind the scenes look at creating these showstopping designs. 

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