Wicked’s Costume Designer Says Ariana Got “Emotional” Over This Dress

Spoilers ahead for Wicked.

The chronically online know that Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo can’t stop crying on their press tour. But long before sharing their stories and tears with the world, one specific fashion moment moved Grande while filming, according to Paul Tazewell, the film’s costume designer: when she first came to the set in the iconic bubble dress.

“Ariana [was] getting emotional because it was the first time she was able to see herself as the iconic Glinda,” he tells Bustle. “I was definitely overcome emotionally. ... If they see themselves as that character, I’ve done my job.” The bubble dress — among other recognizable looks in the upcoming film — carries a multitude of histories.

Though Jon M. Chu’s lofty undertaking is directly adapted from the namesake Broadway show, the OG musical itself was loosely based on the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire. The book is a response to the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film.

For the Wicked movie, Tazewell paid homage to the dress and built on it. “The pink bubble dress both speaks to the 1930s film and also to a modern sensibility, how we see fashion, sculpture, and wearable sculpture,” Tazewell says of the frothy confection, which featured 20,000 beads and took more than 225 hours to hand-embroider. (And that’s just one out of more than 1,000 costumes throughout both films.)

Since photos of the bubble dress dropped in April 2023, fans have been on an Easter egg hunt, decoding every ruffle and iridescent swirl for meaning. Below, Tazewell talks about the design behind the silver slipper, the meaning of Elphaba’s hat, and bringing out Jonathan Bailey’s inner royal heartthrob.

The bubble dress is widely discussed on TikTok. People want to know about the decision to make the dress pink, like in The Wizard of Oz, versus blue like in the musical.

In creating our own original world for Oz, we leaned into Gregory Maguire’s book, which is a reaction to The Wizard of Oz movie, more than the Wicked Broadway show. That said, Glinda’s color palette is inspired by the bubble and its iridescence.

In Oz mythology, ruby slippers became synonymous with the 1939 movie. I noticed that they make an appearance in the film — just not as Rose’s shoes.

Rose’s dad gifts her these crystal-encrusted silver slippers. I was hoping to create a new image of what the special shoe is. It’s not a ruby slipper because the original book had it as a silver slipper, so we kept that within our story.

The heel is a tornado that swirls around with sparkles and then envelops the rest of the foot. That’s another little nugget I’ve put into the design — I hope people actually get it.

Apart from the bubble dress and silver slippers, what do you think the standout items will be for this film?

The Elphaba hat is going to be iconic. It’s a new take and is greatly inspired by Cynthia’s textured sensibility as Elphaba.

I had the great opportunity to work with Cynthia on Harriet, so I knew she could wear a broad-brim hat like no one else. Cynthia has great style and is in very control of clothing. The audience sees that when she sweeps the cape around — she’s very much in control of the cape.

With the hat, she’s wearing it in a way that displays her power. That was what I was hoping for. It had different sizes throughout the film. Initially, it’s small and collapsible, then it gets to Cynthia and it’s a more junior silhouette and size. And then it ends up expanding as she becomes more powerful. It becomes a marker of her growing power.

Her sleeves seemed to be changing size too.

They expanded just with movement. I always wanted her to have that beautiful silhouette from the 1890s, but made to feel otherworldly. The audience sees it when she first arrives in her coat. Then she comes out of that, and it’s another dress that feels like the 1890s silhouette. But then her uniform suit is an extreme-shouldered tailored jacket with a skirt that’s almost like a Dior suit.

Then you compare that to Glinda’s, which has a similar design. They’re speaking the same language; they’re a pair that then merges as friends, so I wanted to make sure they were balanced.

I want to talk about Jonathan Bailey for a second, who plays dreamboat Fiyero. How did you bring out his dreamboatiest iteration?

I tapped into 33 years of experience in costuming productions to create an iconic heroic prince. I had to think about “What color is most expressive of being a prince? What’s most royal?” The process involved tapping into our iconography of what a hero is, even down to how his simple shirt lays open and the color of the blue as it relates to his eyes.

For Jonathan’s Ozdust ball costume, I used a blue velvet that has richness and then embroidered that with a pattern of gold. There was a bullion that was worked into it in a kind of geometric pattern. I thought that would express all of the royal blood and military background.

I’m always trying to figure out how to best show off Jonathan as this hero he’s been cast. All these characters needed to feel real so that the audience would fall in love with each of them, and that they’re not just cartoon characters but actual people.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.