top of page
Writer's pictureThea Hwang
Dec 3

Wicked Style: Storytelling through Fashion

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I saw the movie Wicked (Part 1) and it was AMAZING! Not only was the set a color explosion and Cynthia Erivo acted and sang lights out as Elphaba, but the undercurrents of racism, fascism, and exploitation of differences threaded through the film alluded to serious and timely themes. Then, the intricately beautiful costuming played such an integral part in the storytelling that I wanted to share some of what I learned from hearing the costume designer, Paul Tazewell, featured on a Dressed: The History of Fashion podcast.


Creating a World. While Wicked is obviously set in a fictional world, Tazewell talked about how he and the production designer, Nathan Crowley, realized that they had to create rules for this world to live by. This gave the whole production an overall unity, but for the costume designer, it also meant going deep into the details, down to the stitching, embroidery, pleating, and buttons of individual costumes. As Tazewell expressed on the podcast: “I was making decisions about every different element that we were going to have represented within the clothing, so that it was all there, it was all real, and you could feel the world, just this palpable sense of this world, albeit fantasy, that it actually existed, and that the audience could then immerse themselves in.”



Nature as Inspiration. Because Elphaba is an advocate for animals and has powers to control the elements (she defies gravity!) in the movie, Tazewell felt the character’s intimate connection to nature. Looking at the textures and design lines of roots, bark, and mushrooms, this interconnectedness led to the idea of synergy, movement, and spirals, the Fibonacci and golden spirals being formulas for creation in nature, and resulted in the ruffled, swirled fabric on Elphaba’s dresses.


Elphaba in Black. Since the Wicked Witch of the West from the 1939 production of The Wizard of Oz is clad head-to-toe in black, black is pre-selected as Elphaba’s eventual clothing color, but black is also an intellectualized uniform choice for her throughout the movie. When we first meet Elphaba in the movie as a young girl, because she mistakenly carries the guilt that she is responsible for her mother’s death, she is already dressed completely in black, but a black dress with intricate spiral and micro-pleat details paired with little girl boots. This style trajectory continues when Elphaba goes to Shiz University outfitted in a Victorian-silhouetted, sharply tailored black suit, again with black boots. Of course, she attends the Ozdust Ball wearing the conical witch’s black hat initially given to her as a mean joke, but that she reclaims as her specific look. As this point marks the beginning of the Elphaba-Glinda friendship, Elphaba’s visual growth is accompanied by softening lines and color in her costuming—a vest-and-kilt combination that is less severe in shape and not all-black. But when she journeys to Oz and uncovers the cynical power machinations of the wizard, she decides to resist rather than join the establishment. By the end of Part 1, as Elphaba flies, defying gravity, over Oz, a long black cloak trailing after her, black has gone from a symbol of burden to one of power. 


I was initially miffed when I heard the movie was in two parts and Part 2 isn’t coming out till a year later. Now, after seeing Part I, I feel that I have something to look forward to in November 2025! Since we know that the Dorothy-centric Wizard of Oz pre-determines the ending of Wicked, I’m excited to see how the rest of the story will be told, including through costuming.


Sources & Further Reading


Comments

bottom of page