Wicked - costume design

"Behind the Emerald Curtain"... we get a peek at the costume production for Wicked. Based on Gregory Maguire's novel, with musical written by Stephen Schwartz, this musical twist on L. Frank Baum's story of the Wizard of Oz continues to draw crowds at the box office.
Have you seen it? I'm excited to see my 4th performance of it this fall!

Costume designer Susan Hilferty discusses the elaborate outfits

that she's designed for Broadway's successful musical!

Follow the construction of a new Madame Morrible costume, from bolt to Broadway.

Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda

Some facts about the costumes for Wicked:

There are approximately 263 costumes constructed for each new production of Wicked based on 180 unique costume designs (duplicates of some costumes are made for understudies and others).

What covers the feet of the actors? One or more pairs from the 240 pairs of handmade shoes for each new production of Wicked.

As many as 250 artisans and craftspeople in the US and overseas work on a new production of Wicked.

The ruffles in the skirt of Elphaba’s Wicked Witch dress require 40 yards of fabric to complete.

The fabric for the Shiz uniforms was designed by Susan Hilferty exclusively for Wicked and is custom printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. No two “uniforms” are alike.

It takes 424 manhours per week to maintain the costumes for Wicked on Broadway.

There are a minimum of 6 loads of laundry for every performance of Wicked.

[Source: musicalschwartz.com]

I was tickled to hear Hilferty mention some Steampunk aspects to the design :)

See costume design part 2

-> More info on Wicked