Becoming the first Black man to win an Oscar for costume design last year was a “pinch me moment” for Wicked‘s Paul Tazewell.
“To see how my work has touched audience’s hearts, how it fills another chapter of the overall Wizard of Oz culture, is life-changing,” he tells THR.
The costumer technically touched two chapters of the Oz legacy, as his designs are once again showcased in this year’s sequel, Wicked: For Good, which sees its heroine, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), resume her quest to restore animal rights and expose the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) as a fraud.
“We’re opening For Good with her in this amazing power silhouette,” Tazewell says of the coat, trousers and “kick-ass boots” that become Elphaba’s uniform. “The cape that she’s wearing is supposed to be the same cape that she jumped out of the window in in the first Wicked, but it’s grown,” he explains. “It’s become more dramatic. It’s also showing wear and tear because she’s now living in exile in the forest.”
Elphaba’s signature hat has expanded in size and now more closely resembles the accessory worn by the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film, adds Tazewell. “[Elphaba] adopts it as her power source, and then it’s married with the broom that she rides around, so those become two defining elements to her superhero persona,” he says.
Tazewell has lost track of the number of pink dresses that were made for Glinda (Ariana Grande), though his best guesstimate is seven per film. A noticeable departure from the “Popular” character’s typical wardrobe color scheme is the gown she wears in part two when she’s first gifted the bubble by Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh).
“I didn’t want to use pink for that dress because I had the pink dress from the beginning of the film, so I made the decision to adopt the lavender and blue iridescent quality that’s reflected in the original Glinda dress from the Wicked Broadway musical to give a nod to that dress,” Tazewell explains. “But also, with the classic shape, I’m still giving a more old-fashioned or less evolved Glinda, to give a step toward, then, where she ends up, which is the big pink bubble dress. That’s actually when she is most powerful, when she steps into the bubble and is going to address the rest of Munchkinland.”
For Good also called for the creation of a wedding dress for Glinda, who informs Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) that the two are to marry. “That was a collaboration with Ariana, just thinking about where she wanted Glinda to be emotionally for this wedding,” says Tazewell of the final design. “It’s simplified some, so that it gave her more vulnerability with bare shoulders and arms.”
The completed gown worn for the ceremony features an overdress made of silk organza and tulle with spirals of butterflies trailed along the hem of the skirt’s wide border. “They run down the 25-meter veil that she wears in the Hall of Grandiosity, and then the imagery is supported by animated gold butterflies that float as she’s walking,” Tazewell explains of the scene. “She parts a path with her dress, and then they kind of float up and fly around. It’s a very magical moment.”
It’s magic that required a change to Fiyero’s costume in part two when Elphaba casts a protection spell that turns him into a scarecrow.
“What is a heroic wool and gold braid turns into sackcloth, and then the gold braid transforms to straw embroidery,” Tazewell explains of Fiyero’s uniform, which is originally adorned with bullion banding and embroidery and based on the clothing worn by Hungarian hussar cavalrymen in the 15th and 16th centuries.
“The intent was to have this world of Oz feel as original as possible,” says Tazewell of his Wicked wardrobe reimaginings, “like a world we’ve never seen before.”
See even more on Wicked at THR‘s dedicated site for all things crafts and creative at THR.com/behindthescreen.
