After crafting bewitching looks for Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, costume designer Paul Tazewell has made Hollywood history.
Tazewell won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design on Sunday for his work on the smash film adaptation of “Wicked.” In doing so, he became the first Black man to win the Oscar in his category ― a point he alluded to in his acceptance speech.
“This is absolutely astounding. Thank you, Academy, for this very significant honor,” he said. “I am the first Black man to receive the costume design award for my work on ‘Wicked.’ I’m so proud of this.”
Tazewell was presented with the Oscar by actor and comedian Bowen Yang, who appeared in “Wicked” and even cheekily wore a replica of one of his costumes onstage.
Tazewell’s win follows that of Ruth E. Carter, who in 2019 became the first Black woman to win the Oscar for Best Costume Design for “Black Panther.” She won in the same category in 2023 for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” becoming the first Black woman to win two Oscars.
An Ohio native, Tazwell is also a step closer to joining Hollywood’s elite group of EGOT — Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony — winners. In 2016, he won a Tony Award for his work on Broadway’s “Hamilton” and also nabbed an Emmy Award for “The Wiz Live!”
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Tazewell was previously nominated for an Oscar in 2022 for his work on Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of “West Side Story.”
Speaking to reporters following his acceptance speech Sunday, the designer described his “Wicked” win as “the pinnacle” of his nearly four-decade career.
“The whole way through, there was never a Black male designer that I saw that I could follow, that I could see as inspiration,” he said. “To realize that… that’s actually me, it becomes a ‘Wizard of Oz’ moment.”
