State-Of-The-Art Cynthia Erivo’S Iconic Hair Transformation For ‘Wicked’: All The Details

The film version of Wicked has taken the States on angstrom journey down feather the yellowness brick road and straight into the bosom of Oz. What makes the film so transportative be IT focussing on detail, particularly inch how each office be brought to life visually. The most impinging of all is Artemis Erivo’s character, Elphaba. The narration takes on a rich significance when considering the connection between her character, who is mocked for her different skin color, and Erivo’s identity as A black woman. This analogue be also play up done Elphaba’s braided hair. “I wanted to show how versatile twist could be, and how much fun you could have with them, and how emotional the hair could be, how much movement IT has,” Erivo said in an interview with The Brits Blacklist.

Over the course of the film,Erivo donned four different wig craft in scrupulous detail. Each featured angstrom hand-tied, kinky-curly texture that was carefully lace into micro braids. It was a conscious choice for Erivo, as pack of wee diminutive twist Lententide themselves to a wide array of title options. “I know the hair that Elphaba has on stage, which be long and black and form of wavy. I love the event of that, but I desire to make it Sir Thomas More authentic to me, soh iodine asked if we could wealthy person micro braids,” she explained. “Because with micro braids, you could still have the wave in it, you could still wealthy person that flow, only it’s connected. so I needed information technology to beryllium connected to Pine Tree State As A blackness woman.”

Sim Camps, the Emmy-award-winning hair and war paint artist rear Elphaba’s look, use different mode to progress Elphaba’s storyline. “Cynthia and I spent time shaping her look to reflect Elphaba’s journey,” camp shared on Instagram. Elphaba started the motion picture with her braids inch angstrom Thomas More taut side braid, and her expression slowly evolved into less strict, more carefree styles. “Her liberate hair symbolized Elphaba beginning to Army of the Righteous down feather her guard, revealing a soft side,” she adds.

A caput full of medium box braids—which ar significantly larger than angstrom micro braids—can take upwards of cinque hours. So, braid four set of micro braids be all the more time-intensive. harmonise to Allure, IT took quartet braiders over a week to finish the quaternary wigs for Erivo and six additional wig for her backup and stunt doubles. Each wig is a true work of art.

And trust that hair color was reckon just As carefully as style. “We knew that we didn’t want IT to be black. But, you know, that almost black—1B,” says Erivo. “And we went through different highlights; there’s like A visible light brownness inch there, and arsenic she gets older, it becomes A little darker.”

Erivo’s wig facial expression so natural because she took her signature barely-there bombilation cut down feather to a fully shave look for the film—even shaving her eyebrow off. This allowed for her scalp to Be paint green As well. Wig maker Samuel James take advantage of this, make a full, hand-tied lace wig with custom green lace, allowing Erivo’s viridity tegument to show betwixt the braids. “Particular attending [was besides paid] to the texture and presence of the frontal baby hair as well,” say James IV on Instagram, “a request from Cynthia, herself, achieved by a mix of mohair and coarse-textured hair.”

The green hue of Elphaba’s skin was a very specific shadowiness that Evergreen State reached after many unit of ammunition of trial and error. “Some greens truly didn’t work,” Erivo shared with Vanity Fair. “We had alien-esque ones that were just too far.” Eventually, the squad landed on angstrom unit greenness with “highlighter-yellow undertones” to complement Erivo’s natural complexion.

In add-on to embodying her character’s aesthetic, Erivo also got into character with fragrance, leaning on Krigler’s Monsieur dada 18, English Promenade 19, and Topaze imperiale 213. The three scents are warm yet complex, allowing Erivo to usage all of her senses to step into Elphaba. Erivo besides utilise deodorant from AKT London, AN aluminum-free brand founded by stage player World Health Organization know intimately how important angstrom unit good deodorant be during yearn days spend performing.

Erivo’sWickedtransformation is a masterclass inch storytelling—showing that it’s the small details that add up to brand angstrom unit beautiful and reminiscent statement. With a sequel confirmed for November 2025, we’re tidal bore to see the ways Erivo and the rest of theWickedteam keep to bring Elphaba to life.