Gowns and Hats and Shoes, Oh My! Paul Tazewell on Reimagining Wicked’s Iconic Looks On Screen

From Glinda’s airy, blue bubble dress to Elphaba’s earthy, black frock and jaunty hat to match, the costumes associated with Wicked— crafted for the stage by Susan Hilferty—have become sacred iconography on Broadway (just look at the passionate online discourse about Fiyero’s white jodhpurs). Fans are unwavering in their attachments to the signature looks of Oz, making Paul Tazewell’s job as costume designer for the film adaptation, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, that much steeper of a hill to climb.

“To be asked by [director] John Chu to actually enter into the world of Wicked was—It floored me,” Tazewell shared with Broadway.com Managing Editor Beth Stevens on The Broadway Show. As the Tony-winning costume designer of Hamilton and, most recently, the glamorously macabre Broadway musical Death Becomes Her, Tazewell knows how to build a world through clothing—and we was given leave to build Oz anew. “As John was inviting me to design this movie, he said that we want to give it its own original look and feel and just have a different point of view in how we tell the story,” Tazewell explained. “And with a gulp, I took it on.”

Read about some of the iconic elements of Wicked that Tazewell reinvented for the screen, and watch the full video segment below. Wicked lands in movie theaters November 22. 

GLINDA’S BUBBLE DRESS
"With Glinda, I started with the pink bubble [of] the 1939 film. She arrives in this beautiful, pink, fairy princess dress, all tulle covered in sparkles, and surrounded by this iridescent bubble. So that, as an image, I then carried into the first look that we see for Glinda, which is a similar arrival. She arrives in her bubble that is iridescent in itself. And then when she pops the bubble, we see her in this glorious gown that is, indeed, pink and sparkly as well. But then where I took that was creating that silhouette with spiraled shapes and imagery that is reflective of the bubble and, again, covered in sparkle. That was the starting point for how I would then see Glinda. So you see elements of pink in all of her different looks. You see butterflies in all of her looks as well. It's represented in many of her looks. I used it as a strong theme to really capitalize on that original icon."

MAKING ELPHABA A “WICKED WITCH”
"For Elphaba, I went to nature. I was looking at a lot of nature just because it is timeless, and the designs that are created through nature are timeless. And I wanted to have this world of Oz to reflect that as well. Albeit, the Elphaba silhouette is based, again, on the original MGM movie and that 1890 silhouette that we have come to know her as, with the pointed hat. So I knew that that was going to be our end goal as an icon or as a silhouette. But then how I deal with the texture of her clothing—how do we materialize that? I was using mushrooms and bark and leaves and other kinds of fungus that are very interesting in and of themselves, and then figuring out how we could manifest that in fabric. And then that became reflective of who Elphaba is, and that's in contrast to her ability to fly as well. But it did give me a basis for using black, having that run throughout, and having it still resonate in an interesting way."

RE-DRESSING “POPULAR”
"With 'Popular,' where [Broadway costume designer Susan Hilferty] put Glinda in a pleated, ruffled, pink dress—her party dress—it happens at a different point than where we have it in our film. For me, we were going to do 'Popular' when they're in their nightclothes. I've created a peignoir—it's a dotted net peignoir that she wears over a little silk teddy. But, again, because of the color, because of the quality of the ruffling, hopefully audience members (those that are in the know) will see the connection. But they also will be able to experience that number in a new way."

NESSAROSE’S “RUBY” SLIPPERS
"This film gave me the opportunity to do some amazing detail work. There are the shoes that Nessarose is gifted from Governor Thropp. He gifts his daughter these jeweled shoes that actually originally belonged to Mrs. Thropp, and you see them in the scene when she's giving birth to Elphaba. So that's where they're established. They sit in the same place of importance as the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz film. They happen to reflect the original idea of the silver shoes from The Wizard of Oz book. Hopefully, what I've designed resonates in an iconic way with its tornado—that the heel is a tornado, and it swirls up to the back of the heel, and then it envelops the foot. I'm hopeful that it looks like a precious piece of jewelry but then also resonates in a storytelling way as well."

THE X FACTORS: ARIANA GRANDE AND CYNTHIA ERIVO
"Both Cynthia and Ariana are huge fashion icons themselves, and they love clothing. Every time that we would have a fitting, they would walk in with something—some other piece that was fabulous. I came up with both of their complete wardrobe design arcs and how we would see them through the two films, and then, thankfully, they bought into what those ideas were. Pretty much everything as it was realized stayed the same idea, but there were adjustments. Ari really loved having her neck and shoulders be open as much as possible, so where we could do that, I wanted to make sure that we embraced that. It's always imperative for me that the actors feel good and appropriately dressed for whatever scene that they're in, because in order for them to do their work, to feel like the character, I need to do my work and have it be accurate to what we're doing. It was always gratifying."