The Awe-Inspiring Costume Design of Paul Tazewell

Costume design truly can make or break a production. The first thing you notice about someone is the clothing they’re wearing, so the costuming of a film or play is one of the first ways you judge how “intentional” and “inspired” it is as a piece of work. In Chapter 7 of Faith, Hope, and Carnage, Nick Cave talks about the artist’s desire to be awed, “to create a communal sense of awe.” While this seems like an obvious thing to say about the motives of an artist - “well, of course an artist wants you to be in awe of their work” - an interesting thing about costume design for film and theatre is that they sometimes don’t want you to be in awe of their designs at all. Oftentimes the intention of the costume design is to be simple or underwhelming, or they don’t want their costuming to be seen as distracting or “too much.” But one costume designer who definitely wants you to be in awe of his work is the incredible Paul Tazewell. 

Paul Tazewell is a costume designer of theatre, film, and television, with iconic work spanning decades. His most well known work in theatre is for Hamilton and Death Becomes Her, both of which won him Tony awards in costume design. His most well known work in film is West Side Story (2021) and Wicked, winning an Oscar in costume design for Wicked. Tazewell made Oscars history as the first Black man to win an Oscar in the costume design category, and only the second Black person to ever win in the category after Ruth E. Carter for Black Panther.

Paul Tazewell doesn’t only do work for “excessive” costumes, like the geode dress of Michelle Williams as Viola Van Horn in Death Becomes Her or the bubble dress of Ariana Grande as Glinda in Wicked. He also knows how to dress up shows with a more “normal” wardrobe, like the broadway production of In the Heights. But where Tazewell’s talent most shines is in the sparkling details: the glitter, the shine, the glamour.

 

Tazewell’s decades of work in musical theatre, ballet, opera, television, and film has earned him a secure spot on the list of the most iconic costume designers in entertainment.

The Power of Porcelain: Tang Ying’s Influence on Chinese Pottery

    In The Creative Spark, Agustin Fuentes notes how art has the powerful ability to tell the human story. Art can be so captivating that it tells you a story about both its creator and its history. Physical art that withstands time and performance arts that get passed through the generations inform others of the distinctly important historical and cultural periods that influenced these works.

    I turn now to an underappreciated art form, ceramics. Ceramics have been popular for centuries, most particularly in China, where porcelain became one of their biggest exports. The peak of Chinese ceramics is largely viewed as the Qianlong period, an era of the Qing dynasty from 1735 to 1796. This period is known not only for its immense quality of work but also for the impressive volume of works created for both imperial use and foreign trade.

    The most important ceramicist shaping this era’s creations was Tang Ying, whom the Qianlong Emperor named Superintendent of the Imperial porcelain works. Tang Ying created pieces with impressive precision, formulated new techniques, and helped solidify China as the premier porcelain producer. Every piece from this era and those subsequent have a touch of Tang Ying’s influence, and ceramics as a medium today is heavily influenced by his impact.

Tang Ying’s most important innovations include new colored glazes, specifically a stronger blue and purple shades:

 

New techniques like using black ink on pottery:

 

Methods of replicating textures found in nature, like marble, jade, and even wood:

 

And new and intricate styles and forms like this vase within a vase:

 

    Along with these innovations, Tang Ying also revived older forms and techniques used in previous centuries, aiming to tell the full story of Chinese history through his creations. His art tells the human story of centuries of Chinese ceramists in the past and into the future. Tang Ying’s work before and into the Qianlong period made Chinese ceramics some of the most coveted artworks of the West. His contributions ensured that the legacy of Chinese art would both flourish within the region as well as live on outside of China’s borders. Having just visited the Art Institute and taken a look through ceramics from around the world, I can say with confidence that everyone was inspired by Tang Ying, whether they knew it or not.