"Wicked" costumes wow at Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Costumes from "Wicked" (the film) on display at Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. Photo: Carrie Shepherd/Axios
A new exhibit at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry explores Oscar-winner Paul Tazewell's artistic and scientific costume designs.
The big picture: "Crafting Character: The Costumes of Paul Tazewell" explores Tazewell's work, as seen in "Hamilton" and "Wicked" among others, and the technical skill behind transforming a flat piece of fabric into a multi-layered, structural creation.
- "It's clothing, yes, but it's also clothing that you arrive at through a certain technique," Tazewell said at the exhibit's opening this week.
What to expect: The designer narrates each gallery space, beginning with his earliest childhood inspiration of creating marionettes with his mother, through examples of his work in "Harriett," Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story" and "Hamilton."
- The final gallery space features one of the gowns worn by Glinda in "Wicked" and the black dresses worn by both young and adult Elphaba, as well as other characters from the smash film.
- Layers of crinoline, ombre fabric, sequins, pops of black flowers and dramatic ruffled collars reveal the details of the clothes seen on screen, most of which take about a month to complete, Tazewell said.
What they're saying: "It is an investigative and very engaged relationship in creating costumes for performers that are going to play a character, and that's the way that I choose to design costumes," Tazewell said. "It's not just the surface. It's actually, how does this performer want to play this character? And how can I support that?"
If you go: "Crafting Character: The Costumes of Paul Tazewell" is on display through Sept. 7.