Ariana Grande Wanted To Feel “Vulnerable” In Glinda’s Wedding Dress

Spoilers ahead for Wicked: For Good.

If there’s one thing Wicked’s costuming proves, it’s that fashion can be just as much of a storyteller as a script.

In 2024, when many Broadway fans questioned why the film adaptation was split into two parts, director Jon M. Chu alluded to Wicked being Elphaba’s movie (Cynthia Erivo), and the 2025 sequel, Wicked: For Good, being Glinda’s (Ariana Grande). He accomplished this distinction by giving Glinda an original song in Part Two, and expanding her storyline beyond the musical to include a heart-wrenching emotional scene in which she gets left at the altar as her fiancé runs off with her best friend. Paul Tazewell, who recently nabbed the Best Costume Design Oscar for Part One, figured out exactly how to enhance Glinda’s harrowing emotional arc through her attire.

“As we were fitting and I had conversations with [Ariana], it became clear that she really wanted to feel more vulnerable in that moment.”

While most of Glinda’s costumes were ostentatious (hello, pink crystal-encrusted bubble ball gown), Tazewell pared it back when it came to her wedding dress, with Grande’s input. “When we started, there was much more going on in the upper portion of the wedding dress,” the costume designer says of the early stages of creating Glinda’s matrimonial garb. “As we were fitting and I had conversations with Ari, it became clear that she really wanted to feel more vulnerable in that moment.”

One way Tazewell achieved this feeling of vulnerability was by keeping Grande’s arms and shoulders bare in an asymmetrical strapless bridal gown that billowed out into a full skirt, which helped define her emotional state.

He also stripped it down. Instead of embroidering it with glitzy embellishments that match the rest of her wardrobe, her LWD was relatively unmarked. (At least the bodice. It still had a 25-foot train for a dramatic walk down the aisle.)

The costume designer applied the same thoughtfulness in the dressing of all the characters, incorporating symbolism and subtle homages to the 2003 musical, the 1939 Wizard of Oz film, and both novels (Frank L. Baum’s and Gregory Maguire’s). Below, Tazewell chats through Wicked: For Good Easter eggs, the looks that made the film’s leads emotional, and how he used Glinda’s costumes as propaganda devices.

Congratulations on another successful movie.

Thank you. Have you seen it?

I did. I was bawling as expected.

Same. It’s always overwhelming to see your life pass before you in a way, because for every scene, I remember what it was like to create those designs. Then to see it so beautifully edited together, all the work that Jon Chu has done and editor Myron Kerstein, it’s very gratifying.

Last time we spoke, you mentioned Ariana also got emotional over her pink bubble dress in Wicked. Were there any looks in Part Two that got a similar reaction from her or Cynthia?

Ariana with her blue and lavender bubble dress. The connection to both the Billie Burke Glinda from the 1939 film and also the Wicked Broadway production — having those two be reflected in the first bubble dress was a very moving moment for her. I remember her being very touched when we were wrapping because she had to let go of that persona. It was beautiful to be connected to that moment because of what I had designed. That’s what I’m after: a real human connection to what I’m creating.

For Cynthia, it’s her final look. We worked until the very end of filming to develop how we see Elphaba as she realizes herself at the end of the story, at least as far as we know it. It needed to be something that seemed true to Elphaba, and also different than what we had seen her in before. So those moments were very, very close and intimate. That was a very moving moment for Cynthia.

How did you land on Elphaba’s first look to help set the tone for the second movie?

At the end of Part One, Elphaba wore her very best dress to meet the Wizard, and Glinda dressed in a smart suit as well. Both were as close as they would ever be in silhouette, and how we see their friendship.

Then, at the beginning of Part Two, we see what has happened to her over time, which is a deterioration of that dress. It has become a tunic that lives under the dramatic sweeping coat that she wears. The coat itself is nostalgic of the Wicked Witch of the West from the 1939 film, but it’s also a symbol of heroic power. Even if she’s vilified by the rest of the Ozian community, she is really fully confident in who she is. The coat, trousers, and knee-high boots, everything points to what a powerful woman she’s become as she’s embraced advocating for animals.

You previously mentioned that you incorporated butterflies from Billie Burke’s original Wizard of Oz. How did you integrate them in Wicked: For Good, and what are they meant to symbolize about Glinda?

The idea of the butterflies was to capture airborne elements. Butterflies are very delicate and an inspiration of beauty because they come in a variety of colors and qualities, and they also have iridescent versions. That reminded me of the swirling iridescence of a bubble and how that relates to Glinda and the gift of the bubble vehicle. It’s a propaganda device that Madame Morrible and the Wizard have created to continue to encapsulate her as a figure of good.

With the butterfly, you see it in the standing sleeve that is part of her blue and lavender bubble dress; in the swirls that move around the wedding dress on the hem, and in the length of her veil. You see it reflected in the lace lavender peignoir that she wears for “Wonderful.” I’m placing those visuals throughout because they speak of how she identifies as a figure of good.

Speaking of airborne elements, are those bird earrings that she wears during the wedding?

Yes. They’re little swallows. Also, her necklace is a collection of swallows holding jewels. Again, things that are delicate, beautiful, and airborne.

And propaganda because she can’t fly. She doesn’t have the power.

Exactly. So I was blowing her up with all these other elements that actually can.

Elphaba and Nessarose wear similar rings. Are they meant to be family heirlooms?

Elphaba actually has two matching rings on either pinky finger. One was a swirl, again pulling all of those elements of spirals into the jewelry. Then there’s a tiger’s eye that creates a center or an all-seeing eye. Nessa’s is not necessarily a family ring, but in keeping with the style of Munchkinland.

And the swirls represent the tornado?

Yes, they’re the tornado. They’re also the Fibonacci spiral, which is the formula of creation and nature.

What about the mushroom motif?

It’s reflected in her lair when she is living in exile in the forest. When you see how she’s living, just that human connection to nature, to keep her grounded and connected to that which is organic, and her advocacy for animals, all those elements are there together.

Did you include Easter eggs that alluded to Fiyero or Boq’s upcoming transformations?

For Boq, you see he’s now a footman for Nessarose in the Munchkinland governor’s palace. He’s dressed in a charcoal gray suit emblazoned with silver embroidery. It’s a bouillon we embroidered into his footman uniform.

His peaked hat, if you compare that to the Tin Man, you see that silhouette of the funnel, which it evolves into. The uniform also evolves into the way that the silver wraps around the Tin Man’s body. Those transformations are as connected as possible while still moving towards the Tin Man closest to the illustrations that were originally in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz novel by Baum.

For the Scarecrow, it’s all of that bullion in Fiyero’s uniform. Those were all bands of custom-woven, patterned trim. A little bit of gold is worked into there, but it’s largely straw, so that we get that quality of straw or grass busting through. As he’s transforming, that bullion transforms into straw. His epaulettes, which are basket-woven with elements of wheat, become the transfer of bullion to straw. Things that are natural and connected to the Scarecrow.

You also incorporated meteorological elements in Madame Morrible’s looks.

When she’s in her boudoir and conjuring the tornado in this beautiful forest green velvet peignoir with layered organza sleeves, the embroidery is all gold and silver bullion that creates a lightning pattern. I was trying to incorporate meteorological images into all of her decorations as we see her evolve into the figurehead that she is in Emerald City.

Another nugget might be Nessarose. If you do a close-up of Nessarose in the silver and crystal shoes, when she’s flying, you can see that her striped hose are surprisingly similar to the 1939 film when the ruby slippers were given to Dorothy. That’s a carryover from the culture of The Wizard of Oz as well.

I know you didn’t include the ruby slippers at all in the films, but I love that she gets a hint of the ruby when she’s flying.

That’s correct. It’s just a little red glow.

Glinda’s wardrobe is very pink. What was the symbolism of her actually owning the dark hooded cloak and boots when she warns her of the Ozians’ attack?

She is getting ready to save Elphaba. That was a dark green cloak. It speaks of her connection to Elphaba that she grabs those boots. It’s that closeness that she’s held onto for such a long time. The cloak is acting as a disguise so that she’s hiding her bubble dress, but then it’s also creating a stronger connection to this dear, dear friend that she will love forever.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.