From its conception by Frank L. Baum in 1900, the Oz universe has been a surreptitious commentary on American culture, politics, and social causes. The book was already a popular musical on Broadway by 1902, and Baum himself staged theatrical, radio, and film adaptations in subsequent decades. In April 2000, the Library of Congress declared The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to be “America’s greatest and best-loved homegrown fairy tale.” Now costume designer Paul Tazewell puts his own stamp on the ever evolving world of Oz.

Oz has been a lifelong passion of Paul Tazewell’s, both personally and professionally. “The story has been a part of my life since I was 4. The 1939 movie and then The Wiz Live!, which I designed. It’s important to find myself in the character that I’m designing and to understand their intentions. Wicked is about a woman who is different and excluded. When Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) takes hold of that broom, she’s taking hold of her power. She becomes like a superhero because she’s on a mission to save the animals of Oz.”

For Tazewell, Elphaba’s signature black isn’t just a nod to the stereotype of witches or villains, but a character-driven choice. “Her mother passed away when she was a very little girl and she went into mourning, but then she held onto it as a protection.” Limiting the color palette of the character did create a design challenge, but Tazewell squared the circle with fabric. “I love different kinds of textiles and what they give you. Within all that black, There are all kinds of techniques, different types of pleating, versions of silk, silk gauze and silk toile … any black fabric that we could get our hands on. I looked at mushrooms and fungus to get that organic quality into her world, so we considered different fabrics to emulate that kind of surface.”

Elphaba’s hat gets its own song in the musical. Made of wire buckram, the hat is micropleated and collapsible, so it makes an appearance when it springs into shape in the film. “The story is that this is a hat that was made by Galinda’s grandmother. She never wears it, so she’s giving it to Elphaba as a joke, but indeed it tops off this very beautiful silhouette.”

The treatment of sentient animals within the Oz universe becomes a driving force for the character and the story, and Tazewell sewed it right into Elphaba’s costumes. “Her look has to feel both whimsical and have a connection to nature. So as a young girl, she’s in a pinafore, but it’s covered in trails or vines of leaves that are black. The silhouette of the sleeves is a miniature version of the Wicked Witch of the West dress. As she develops as a woman who has dignity and great style, she dresses herself in a very mindful way, even within her confined color palette, knowing that her nemesis, Galinda/Glinda (Ariana Grande), has that same intention, just from a different point of view.”

Galinda is a bouquet of pinks in bubbles and ruffles, always ready and expecting to be the center of attention. “The pink is directly related to the 1939 film,” Tazewell explains. “The Billy Burke look of Glinda. But there was something that felt very literal and solid about the Broadway silhouette that I wanted to pull into 2024 and also make it feel more natural. It was almost like these shapes just magically hold to Galinda’s body.” As a representation of the mainstream in the Oziverse, Galinda both embraces the look of Shiz University’s student body and happily pushes the boundaries—with the restraint of a social climber already near the top of the ladder. “I was thinking about the formula of the Fibonacci spiral and how that dictates natural design. So I started to incorporate it into the pattern that we use on the surface of the bubble dress. You also see it on Madame Morrible, and you see it in the architecture as well. I held onto that as an idea that defines what whimsy is for this world.”

Over the course of the film, the characters influence each other, and that is reflected in their costumes. At the climax, Elphaba and Galinda meet the Wizard, and their looks, though still different in palette and accessories, begin to converge. “I wanted to get them to be in the same silhouette, for Glinda to simplify so we see how Elphaba has changed her and how she’s really traded artifice for the depth of a friendship. We have Elphaba in that turn-of-the-century trumpeted skirt, and then Glinda in a similar shape, but hers is slightly shorter. It’s still reflective of who they essentially are, but it shows how they’ve evolved. I was very pleased with the balance between the two of them.”

Equal parts showman, magician, and ringmaster, designing the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) was an exercise in references and Easter eggs. “Jeff Goldblum loves clothing, and he has a physique that is perfect for a turn-of-the-century silhouette. Going back to the original Wizard of Oz, he’s from the American Midwest. So the frock coat and trousers have that P. T. Barnum quality, but then redefined by the world that he created in Emerald City. There’s a swirling pattern on the wool, and his trousers are actually a custom woven pattern that has a W worked into the weave. If you look closely at his ascot, it’s a spiral as well, pulling on imagery from all over Oz.”

For the designer, the size and scope of the build was its own version of Oz. The workspaces were a riot of color and creative energy. “You’d go through a door and it would open up into this explosion of pink and sparkles, with a little bit of lavender and yellow, but all very see-through and gossamer. In the big studio area, where all the fittings for Emerald City were happening, it was a sea of greens. With access to weavers, machine knitters, hand knitters, and embroiderers, with everyone working to realize this idea, I was in heaven. There was a wonderful collaboration with those artists. There’s an energy and joy that’s created when you get people together who are excellent makers and all focused on realizing a story.”