CHICAGO — Long before audiences saw Glinda’s dazzling pink dresses or Elphaba’s dramatic layered ensembles on the big screen, Paul Tazewell was imagining how silhouette, color and texture would bring the witches of Oz to life.

Tazewell, the award-winning costume designer behind both “Wicked” films, the stage musical “Hamilton” and Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story,” will be the focus of a new exhibition opening Jan. 19 at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry.

“Crafting Character: The Costumes of Paul Tazewell,” located in the museum’s Kenneth C. Griffin Studio, will showcase designs from early projects in Tazewell’s career to some of his most recognizable pieces in film, theater, television and the red carpet.

“To allow visitors to engage directly with the work, to see it up close and in person, I’m hopeful that it will be exciting for them,” Tazewell said. “I think overall it would be a very full experience for anybody that chooses to come and see it.”

As the designer’s debut exhibit, Tazewell said being approached by the museum was a blessing. His retrospective is near the museum’s 56th annual “Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibition,” which highlights Black innovators and artists.

“I am so honored that my exhibit sits adjacent to that as a celebration of the artist community here in Chicago,” Tazewell said.

Last year, Tazewell made history as the first Black man to win the Academy Award in costume design for his work on the first “Wicked” movie. As one of many milestones featured in the exhibit, visitors will follow a multimedia journey through Tazewell’s three-decade-long career and meticulous creative process. Each room will be accompanied by his audio narration, along with behind-the-scenes videos, original sketches and photographs.

The exhibition opens with a room centered on Tazewell’s inspirations, bringing together family photos, artwork by his mother and costume sketches from his college years. Janelle Monáe’s viral 2025 Met Gala look, created by Tazewell in collaboration with designer Thom Browne, anchors the space, but a photo of Tazewell as a junior in high school marks the true beginning of his Ozian trajectory.

As a child growing up in Akron, Ohio, he was captivated by the shift from sepia-toned Kansas to vibrant Technicolor in the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz,” a scene that still inspires him. At 16, he designed costumes for his high school production of “The Wiz.” He would later win an Emmy in 2016 for costume design for “The Wiz: Live!” before moving on to the screen adaptation of the stage musical “Wicked.”

As the retrospective continues, viewers will see the intricate engineering behind Tazewell’s designs.

While Anita’s yellow dress from “West Side Story” appears to ripple effortlessly as Ariana DeBose spins during the film’s “America” sequence, Tazewell said numerous technical decisions went into achieving the effect.

“There’s geometry that goes into the pattern making. There are choices about fabrics that are specific to textile fibers and what those different aspects bring to manifesting costumes,” he said.

Other signature pieces of the exhibit include costumes from Broadway’s “Hamilton,” from Thomas Jefferson’s purple suit to King George III’s royal ensemble and the Schuyler sisters’ Winter Ball gowns. Tazewell won his first Tony Award for the musical’s costume design, though he emphasizes the contributions of the artisans who were on his team, such as tailor Artur Allakhverdyan.

In a room dedicated to collaboration, the exhibition spotlights the craftspeople behind Tazewell’s designs, including Miodrag Guberinic, who assisted him on the “Wicked” films, and Mark Zappone, who collaborated on “The Sleeping Beauty” ballet production for Pacific Northwest Ballet last year.

“There are many minds behind creating and realizing a costume,” Tazewell said. “I’ve had the privilege to design alongside incredibly skilled makers.”

The final room of the exhibit is devoted to Tazewell’s work on the film “Wicked.” His most ambitious project to date, he designed more than a thousand pieces for both movies. In the first film, there were 25 costumes for Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba and another 25 for Ariana Grande’s Glinda.

As the main characters of “Wicked,” Tazewell said he wanted to capture the personality of Elphaba and Glinda in what they wear, as he aims to do with all of his projects.

“There is an intention behind both conceptually what the costume is and how the character will be represented in the costume,” he said.

Glinda’s effervescent pink bubble dress is not only a nod to the original “Wizard of Oz” dress, but it’s also meant to reflect an archetype of goodness. Made of layered nylon and silk organza, the dress comprises 137 pattern pieces and approximately 20,000 beads.

On the other hand, many of Elphaba’s dark ensembles, such as the one she wears while singing “Defying Gravity,” have mushroom-inspired micro pleats and layered textures that reflect her affinity to nature and animals.

For Tazewell, the exhibit is about more than seeing his designs up close.

“I hope it inspires young people to want to be a costume designer, and at the very least, that it inspires creativity,” he said. “To be that kind of inspiration is really, I think, a big part of why I’m here, why I’m here on Earth.”

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“Crafting Character: The Costumes of Paul Tazewell” runs Jan. 19 to Sept. 8 at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry Chicago, 57th Street and DuSable Lake Shore Drive; 773-684-1414 and msichicago.org.

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