There are only a handful of movies that are able to generate widespread attention across the industries of entertainment, music, theater, fashion and even politics. Wicked was one of the most expected movies of the year with the largest opening-box of a musical adaptation since Les Mis in 2012.
Let’s unravel the Political Fashion momentum of Wicked—from the disturbing timeliness of its political messages to the storytelling through fashion in each of the movie's characters.
Wicked, Part 1 the movie, is based on Wicked the Broadway musical, which is based on the book from 1995 Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire which, at the same time, is inspired by the story of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz from 1900 that was adapted to the Wizard of Oz film in 1939. Needless to say, the audience had already preconceived ideas about what certain visual elements from the film would look like. The ruby slippers, the yellow brick road, and this juxtaposition of Old Hollywood that we saw in the 1939 Wizard of Oz Movie with futuristic elements on the architecture of Emerald City.
Wicked honors these elements, with nods to the idea that the audience had of Oz, but also bringing technology, fashion, theater and spectacle that brings the film to a whole new level.
The Fashion of Wicked
Elphaba’s signature color is black. We see her wearing black since her childhood when attempting to play with her sister and we see her pulling off different iterations of black attire throughout the film playing with texture and silhouette to maintain the outfits visually interesting on the screen.
The choices of pleating, Victorian silhouettes, and textile manipulation are not arbitrary. A lot of these visual elements were inspired by research imagery, specifically on the underside of mushrooms and the interconnectedness of their systems. The idea was to create a very natural feeling to fashion because Elphaba’s character is connected with nature —through her advocacy for animals, her grounding, and her control of gravity.
Black represents mourning, grief, and loss.
Some things I cannot change but 'till I try I'll never know. —Elphaba
We hear Elphaba share with Glinda how she believes she is responsible for the death of her mother, because her mother consumed a lot of milk flower when she was expecting Elphaba’s younger sister, and was scared of her being born green. The milk flower caused an early birth and the death of her mother. Elphaba carried this guilt and grief throughout the plot of the movie.
Glinda
Are people born wicked? Or do they have wickedness thrust upon them? — Glinda
Wicked’s costume designer. Paul Tazewell, wanted to bring inspiration from different time periods that would fit for the identity of each character.
The costume design in Wicked is very intricate because it is timeless and tangled across historical references from Christian Dior’s tailored suits from the 1950s to very modern and sensual designs inspired by a flower that determined the direction of Glinda’s dress for the underwater bar scene (one of Ariana Grande’s favorite dresses from the film). There was a clear reference to the 1939 film for the bubble dress since there was a need to do a voluminous soft pink ball gown. However, it was also important to make it current, and authentic to Ariana Grande, the artist who is now portraying Glinda.
Additionally, there is an intentionality to be soft, sexy, provocative and, yes, popular, within the costumes of Glinda. There is a purposeful asymmetry that is consistent across her clothing and feels very authentic to the story that Glinda was telling.
It is fascinating to see the evolution of both characters throughout the film.
After “Popular”, Elphaba begins to feel more comfortable around Glinda, with some more relaxed and soft textiles in her clothing selections. By the time they are on the way to Emerald City, Glinda, and Elphaba, once opposite sides of the coin, are wearing very similar silhouettes. This costume design was carefully selected by Tazewell, who wanted to illustrate how the two friends were able to find common ground and were now closer than ever.
The Politics of Wicked
“Wait, this play is about us?” A Euphoria meme was used to reference how timely the political message of Wicked is in today’s climate. The Wizard (a “leader” who turns out to be unskilled but very good with words), tells Elphaba and Glinda that one of the most effective ways to unite a society is to give them an enemy in common. In this case, it was the animals who were being persecuted, and imprisoned —a group that was notably a minority within the community in Oz.
The animals were educating everyone else in Oz, and as much as the film allows us to see, there was no reason to believe they were an enemy of the society of Oz —or as our current political climate likes to suggest “the enemy from within”.
Many musical theaters are about outsiders' experiences. The cast of Idina Menzel, who is Jewish, was intentional for the Wicked Musical on Broadway. The script was written by Jewish writers Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman. “Wicked is not overtly Jewish-themed but it certainly resonates with many Jewish people’s experience,” Schwartz explained.
Another key factor is that Cynthia Erivo became the second Black woman to play Elphaba in Wicked. For the film, Erivo really pushed for Elphaba to reflect her identity and ensure she would have micro braids. “I wanted to make it more authentic to me” Erivo states. “I know the hair that Elphaba has on stage is long and black, and sort of wavy, but with micro braids you can still have that effect, you can still have the wave in it, you can still have that flow”.
There are several decades of fight and history behind Elphaba’s micro braids. It was only until the 2010s that a variety of Black hairstyles had been shown on the big screen. We saw Lupita Nyong’o and Letitia Wright in Black Panther in 2018 and Issa Rae in Insecure two years earlier. This representation is very important because far from being a stylistic choice, it is empowering and inspiring Black people to wear their natural hair as the main character of the film is a Black woman with micro braids.
The multiple interpretations of Wicked make the story more political and relevant to our time. From those who are holding space while listening to Defying Gravity, to those who claim Ariana Grande is a Hispanic woman and portraying an offensive role, the mixed reactions to this story illustrate how Wicked is much more than a story about witches.
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