In For Good, the language of costume charts an arc of identity, power, and vulnerability through fabric. Academy Award-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell approaches costumes as the architecture of character, with every fabric and silhouette designed to reveal how Elphaba, Glinda, and Fiyero have transformed since audiences first met them.
Tazewell recently spoke with Boxoffice Pro for the cover story of our November 2025 print edition. In celebration of Wicked: For Good arriving in theaters from Universal Pictures on November 21, here is our full conversation with the costume design wizard.
That costume display in the Colosseum lobby at CinemaCon 2024 was so breathtaking. The art of costumes goes so much deeper than what moviegoers might notice on screen while fully immersed in the story. Every little detail tells us about the world of Oz. What were some of the small things within the design of this conclusion that you’re particularly proud of?
I’m very proud of how each of the characters evolve. The ramp-up to their self-realization, and then where we go in Wicked: For Good. It’s like a beautiful, full life. At the beginning, with each of the characters—whether you are an introvert, wear your goodness as armor, or are a dashing prince—as you relate to other people and other personalities, your personality changes. Your choices change. Seeing that evolution represented in clothing is really exciting for me, and I think that where we pick up with Wicked: For Good is in a place where each of them has made a choice about their lives.
With Elphaba, it’s taking hold of her magical power and being a very intentional advocate for animals. For Glinda, it is allowing herself to be a pawn within the structure of Emerald City and acting as a propagandist as well, as she is pushing this idea of goodness. For Fiyero, he’s on the fence, because he has always been used to the easy choice. Elphaba changed how he sees the world of Oz. How I represent that in the clothing becomes very important. I love being in that position of creating what those visuals are for them.
How are some of those silhouettes, fabrics, and colors evolving in For Good?
We show maturity. With Glinda, her clothing is very elegant. It’s Dior meets Marie Antoinette. There is an element of Audrey Hepburn. There’s a Hollywood glamor that’s able to be realized because of her maturity. As we move forward, the simplicity of line becomes very important, because she’s starting to internally shed some of the artifice that she’s defined her personality with. You see that represented in her wedding dress and the lavender and blue iridescent bubble dress. It becomes about a strong shape but still operates with the same sparkle and fantasy quality that is necessary for a figure in the position that she’s in in Emerald City.
With Elphaba, she’s holding to the same sensibility that she had in part one. She’s holding to the idea of black and the austerity of black. What she’s changing is that she’s really leaning into her clothing with pants, strong knee-high boots, and a coat that is very dramatic. With texture that is aligned with nature, it’s like looking at slick bark. We still have that idea of mushrooms as well. They remain true to their style and sensibility, but the way that it’s used and how it’s modified speaks to who they become.
Costumes have such important jobs, obviously for storytelling, but also for movement. During production, what was it like for you to see everything come together?
For movement, I think that what’s beautiful about the way that Jon M. Chu has directed the film is that everyone is in movement all the time. Elphaba is flying through the air, and the length of her cape becomes very important in suggesting the power of her pursuit. The dance in the Hall of Grandiosity—it’s great fun seeing all of the assistants of Glinda in step [with her]. How that whimsy is carried forward within For Good. The same with the Emerald City guard, led by Fiyero. The tin soldier quality of their presentation as well.
I’m always thinking about clothing as it’s moving through space. One of my favorite moments is to see Glinda walk down the Hall of Grandiosity and then down the steps and to see how her dress trails behind her, as well as the 25-meter veil that is part of her wedding attire, which is topped with a crystallized butterfly tiara. Seeing that with all of the dimensional butterfly swirls that line the hem and then the butterflies that are floating up and above her as well, it all becomes this moving presentation, which is really quite gorgeous.
With this kind of magical film, we can push the boundaries of reality, because that’s the fun of it, telling the story in a very whimsical way, and it resonates in a very meaningful, intimate, and emotional way as well. It has a great balance of visual beauty and also the strength of emotion.
Thinking about color, how do you paint with fabric? Even within Elphaba’s black, there’s an ombre that goes out of black and into dark purple.
I love painting with fabric. You see that with the Kiamo Ko cape, where I’ve created an ombre. Color in movement informs so much of my sensibility and design, because even if it’s still, it is still active. That informs my overall sensibility. You’re speaking of the Emerald City dress that has an undertone of purple. It could have been designed in a way where it’s just solid black without other elements, which becomes very stark. I wanted to have a quality of austerity, but I also wanted to project a woman who was alive underneath it all. There’s great energy in her personality and how she sees the world of Oz. That undertone of purple is then layered with a lace that creates this variegated texture underneath this other texture of undulating pleats, so it becomes very rich as she’s moving. It keeps the dress overall very alive, because you have a play of different kinds of texture.
With the Wicked Witch of the West look, her waxed coat is a series of pintucks that work in different directions to create this look of bark on a tree. But then, in motion, it’s this amazing dramatic coat that moves with her as she’s flying through the air or walking into a room. It always has a swirl about it. That’s always my intention, because with clothing, it’s fine and well to be a beautiful garment on a stand, but it comes to life when it’s worn by an actor. It moves with intention when an actor is wearing it. That’s what I work towards, and that’s really what defines my sensibility for costume design overall. It is a live garment that tells a silent story, which hopefully underscores what the performer is trying to tell as well with their performance.
In speaking with your other collaborators, it’s clear that Jon M. Chu sets a very collaborative tone. With a production of this scale, you collaborated with an entire village of artists, not only in your own department but also with Frances Hannon in Hair and Makeup and across all of the different design teams. What were those collaborations like, working together on a big-screen epic?
I have to say, it’s been one of the most beautiful collaborative experiences that I’ve had. You’re very spot-on describing Jon M. Chu’s collaborative spirit and how he relates to each of the creators individually, but then it sets a tone for how we will relate to each other. It was imperative that we were all on the same page telling the story, because it’s so vast. The environments that Nathan [Crowley] created are literally huge. The clothing that I was creating for the different characters that would inhabit these spaces must somehow visually align with what that sensibility is, because we needed to communicate that the people that are walking through the space are the same architects; they come from the same stock and sensibility as the people that created the walls and the buildings of Emerald City or Shiz or Munchkinland. There had to be a consistent visual language.
Thinking about my work with Frances, her design is an extension of what I’m creating. We couldn’t work in opposition to each other. In establishing what our silhouettes were for Munchkinland, what kind of hair will they have? What will hold that together as a group of people so that we can see them as a land that’s identifiable? That asymmetry of hairstyles—what Francis designed—was also reflected in the asymmetrical clothing that I was creating for the Munchkins.
It was the same with Emerald City. How all of the amazing sculptural hairstyles that she was coming up with for Emerald City relate to the clothing that I was creating. It’s a consistency of sensibility that helps to define who these people are and how they live their lives. What’s fashionable for them? It’s hugely fun to have the opportunity to create that. As you’re doing it, you have to be consistent about what all those rules are, because Munchkinland needed to relate to Emerald City and then we needed to relate to the land of the Winkies, the Uplanders. You need to get the sense that everybody, although they’re from different lands, is influenced by each other. I think that was imperative in creating the world of Wicked.
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