The Oscar -, Emmy-, and Tony-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell has mastered the practice of developing memorable sartorial articulations of freedom and the pursuit thereof. It’s a feat most recently recognized in his work on Jon M. Chu’s Wicked (and its sequel, Wicked: For Good ), but the 61-year-old designer has been thoughtfully transforming characters through clothing for more than half his life.

With his Broadway debut in 1996, Tazewell designed costumes for Bring in ’da Noise, Bring in ’da Funk , which united its tap-dancing characters across class with kinetic vibrancy. There were contemporary hip-hop silhouettes — baggy jeans and shorts, rendered in the yellow, green, black, and red palette of ’90s brand Cross Colours — alongside military garb and the preferred uni

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