PRINT Magazine: Having designed costumes for film, television, Broadway, and regional theaters for more than three decades, Paul Tazewell is one of the industry’s most revered designers. He joins to discuss his career, costuming some of the most memorable characters of our time, and his recent award-winning work on the Oscar nominated film, Wicked.
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Throughout this entire interview, I found myself smiling, reading about Paul Tazewell’s design process and what has inspired him throughout the years as a designer. From his childhood, to now, he really draws his inspiration from his life and what he values, which I heavily respect. He said that being self-aware from a young age by having to go to group therapy really helps him as an artist to create designs that not only resonate with the actors, but also show a part of himself and what he cares about. That all ties into the last part of the interview, where he talks about how important it is to have intention in the clothes you pick to wear each day. It’s like the Italian philosophy: “La Bella Figura.” They believe in order to feel good, you have to put effort in how you present yourself, and that confidence rises when you wear good clothes. I do believe in this, and I do believe in what Tazewell says about how the clothes you wear says a lot about you and how you are.
Paul Tazewell is such a fantastic costume designer, and I have been silently following his career for a while as an observer. As a hobby, I really enjoy looking, watching, and reading about costume design and historical costuming and seeing all of the different ways in which people interpret periods and environments for storytelling purposes. His work on Wicked was truly phenomenal, on his instagram he’s been posting the detailed craftsmanship and level of intricacy that went into each and every costume and it has been nothing short of amazing. I also love all of the references to not only the stage Wicked production but the original Wizard of Oz within the costuming, with it still having Tazwell’s individual marker on it. He was able to take the world of Oz and make it into something truly magical and speaks to the inner life of each and every character on that screen.
Reading this interview was so heartwarming because it seems like Paul Tazewell really puts his all into his designs. Reading about his process and what goes into all his designs is such an eye opener and I really admire the fact that he continued to design even when things felt like they weren’t inspiring anymore. I think as an artist and designer, it is so important to have inspiration and to discover new things and never lose that sense of curiosity because that’s where our work comes from and to lose that means that what we use to feed our work is gone. Also to think about the fact that he was faculty here just blows my mind. That’s something else that I think about a lot: whether or not I will become a teacher later in my life just to have a steady job in case designing and freelancing just doesn’t make sense for me anymore.
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