Paul Tazewell, a renowned costume designer, won the Oscar for best costume design on March 2nd for his amazing costumes in the movie Wicked. He is the first Black man to win in this category.
In his short acceptance speech, the Akron native multiple people he’s worked with in his career, including directly thanked the film stars, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, calling them his Oz-ian Muses. The film won two Oscars.
This win marks the 4th award Tazewell has won for his work in this film and his 9th overall win in his career. As he walked to the stage, his flare for artistic fashion dazzled the audience in a 1960s-inspired tuxedo, which he paired with a cascading tie-shaped brooch.
As the castle halls have Redhawks who don their fashion pieces, some spoke on Tazewell’s recent accomplishment and how it relates to their love of fashion.
Junior Redhawk, Ronnie Sanders stated, “That’s great he won. He’s breaking barriers. I feel like it’s long overdue because we [Black people] have played a role in fashion, especially as it is today. It goes back to the 90s fashion, with the urban style.”
In 2016, Tazewell also won an Emmy for his costume designs in The Wiz and a Tony award for his work in the hit Broadway show Hamilton.
“As a designer, he gets the concepts of the outfits,” said freshman Morgan Walker-Thomas.
Having watched the film Wicked and seeing clips of the show Hamilton, Walker -Thomas appreciates how well the outfits suit the cast and the overall story. She noted that based on how Elphaba’s styles changed in the story, it was like Tazewell knew not just the person but the character.
Walker-Thomas said, “When it comes to pairing the outfit and the characters, he knows how to get it [the costume] to fit the character. Even in Hamilton, he did the same thing. He doesn’t make the design sloppy or a mess, they look like they belong to that person.”
On Instagram, Cyntia Erivo posted a dedication to Paul Tazewell stating it’s an open letter to a stylist who is more like a brother and a father figure. She shared a sentiment, not only about how he designed costumes for the movie, but how he styled her for her performance at the Oscars.
“…it’s the way you inject calm on purpose before a big carpet, or the sweet worry or nervousness that you try to hide before you send me off to sing on an Oscar stage, that makes you who you are,” Ervio stated.
It is clear how much of an impact Paul Tazewell had in the film and winning an Oscar’s award for his costumes simply shows how others also feel about him as well. The amount of time and effort put into making these costumes was probably not even thought of as you watched the film.
The small details as simple as the color of the rhinestones on the dress or simply the fabric material played a huge role in his masterpieces the same way his costumes played a huge role in Wicked and even better a huge role in the actress’s life and experience filming the wicked film.
