NEED TO KNOW
- Paul Tazewell, the costume designer for the Wicked films, defended his decision to have Cynthia Erivo wear the now-viral “sex cardigan”
- Erivo’s Elphaba wears the chunky knit cardigan in the Wicked: For Good‘s intimate “As Long as You’re Mine” sequence alongside Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero
- “I see my work as a costume designer to be one of a storyteller, and I’m telling a silent story,” Tazewell explained
Paul Tazewell is pulling back the curtain on what inspired Elphaba’s “sex cardigan” in Wicked: For Good.
As soon as the long-awaited sequel hit the big screen, fans couldn’t help but obsess over the woolly cardigan that Cynthia Erivo wears during the film’s sensual “As Long as You’re Mine” sequence alongside Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero.
While some fans had mixed opinions about the ragged gray knit, the film’s Oscar-winning costume designer shed light on why he chose the now-viral article of clothing.
“It came out of very literally an organic decision of what does Elphaba have access to,” Tazewell explained in a recent interview with NPR. “And living alone, what choice would she make when she’s looking for a robe, some way to be protective and warm?”
“It’s operating as her robe for that moment,” he continued. “She’s got a loom in her treehouse, where she’s weaving her own clothing. She’s manifesting all these things from the elements that are around her, and the sweater is just in keeping with that.”
Going on to explain that a “black, slinky peignoir” would have been an unrealistic choice for Elphaba’s circumstances, Tazewell said that the cardigan was just another choice that helped define “who a character is and what is important for them, where their priorities are.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
After all, each of the intricate wardrobe that Erivo and her costar Ariana Grande wear throughout the film is a symbol of their characters at that specific moment — whether it’s Glinda’s over-the-top bubble dress, Elphaba’s controversial “sex cardigan,” or even Fiyero’s perfectly tousled toupee.
“I see my work as a costume designer to be one of a storyteller, and I’m telling a silent story,” Tazewell emphasized. “It reveals itself adjacent to the performances of the characters.”
Back in November 2024, Tazewell told PEOPLE that the costume team created over 1,000 costumes for the Wicked films — 25 total looks for Glinda and 24 looks for Elphaba — although many had multiples.
For some costumes, including Glinda’s iconic bubble dress, the costume team went as far as dedicating up to 137 pattern pieces and 225 hours into hand-beading a singular bodice.
“When I think of the iconic Glinda, it is Billie Burke as Glinda [in The Wizard of Oz] in that pink dress and how she arrives in the bubble,” Tazewell explained to PEOPLE. “I was intent on creating a similar quality of silhouette. There’s a fairy princess quality in Ariana as Glinda in that dress. It’s sparkly and it is covered with bubble imagery that swirls around her. It has all of those qualities that are magical and give you that sense of the Good Witch of the North in a very strong way, but it’s re-envisioned.”
Read the full article here
