At least there is one good thing to come out of 2025 so far. Costumer designer Paul Tazewell became the first Black man to win Best Costume Design for his work on Wicked.
During his acceptance speech, Tazewell emotionally said, “This is absolutely astounding. Thank you Academy for this very significant honor. I’m the first Black man to receive the costume design award for my work on Wicked. I’m so proud of this.”
As he absolutely should be. This is a much-deserved win for Tazewell, because the costumes in Wicked as almost characters in themselves. There is so much personality and variety in them that was limited in the original stage adaptation. No single character is forgotten or thought of as unimportant.
He also went on to praise Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, calling them, “My Ozian muses.”
Tazewell beat out fellow costume designers Janty Yates and David Crossman (Gladiator II), Linda Muir (Nosferatu), Lisy Christl (Conclave), and Arianne Phillips (A Complete Unknown). Previously nominated for West Side Story, this is an amazing first Oscar win for Tazewell, who also has a Tony award for Hamilton under his belt.
He can now add the Oscar to his British Academy Film Award, Costume Designers Guild, BAFTA, and Critics Choice awards. Additionally, he has also been named as one of Variety’s 10 artisans to watch in costume design and was awarded the Variety Artisan Award in costume design at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.
Though the first Black man to win, he is preceded by Ruth E. Carter’s win for her work on Black Panther. A few years later she would win for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
“I want to touch hearts, want to change lives,” Tazewell said. “I want to make a difference and my power, my medium, in doing that is costume design and I’m passionate about it.”
Wicked has several nominations for the Oscars this year, including the coveted Best Picture award.
Published: Mar 2, 2025 08:25 pm