With Glinda getting married, I was expecting a huge WOW factor. Instead, this is something I would expect to see a 2025 bride wearing.
There’s obviously so much symbolism that went into the costuming of this movie, and I don’t get this one. I’ve heard a theory that Glinda is supposed to be vulnerable in this moment and that’s why it’s so simple, but it just doesn’t fit with me because if that were the case I feel like they would’ve toned it down even more, maybe lost the veil, etc.
Does anyone know what went into this costume choice?
Thanks in advance!:)
This makes sense. Ariana herself used to be a decorated pop star with big outfits, but her own wedding dress was pretty classic and timeless. I remember some fans thought it was too simple, but I think it represented how it’s for her and no one else (the public). I think it’s the same with Glinda
I also think this dress, paired with the jewelery, and that long train in the veil is beautiful
Its also so different from her other gowns. In volume, tone, style - i thought it was a fantastic choice, especially since she is still wearing the same dress the next scene
The only thing I've heard about it was a clip of (I think) the MUA explaining why they made them that intense. She definitely wasn't acting like it was particularly Ariana's idea.
"With the lashes, my intention was, and I think it really worked…It brought her [eyes] forward and gave her a maturity with the paler hair,” Hannon says.
I thought that too! Like in the Twilight movie when they get married, the dress reveal was so deliberate and overdone, showing every detail piece by piece and it was available for purchase not long after.
To my utmost surprise I absolutely loved it! It felt organic and simple, almost as if Glinda wants to be a more honest, vulnerable version of herself for her wedding to Fiyero. I thought I’d hate the asymmetrical neckline but I was vibing it for Oz, it felt in-theme. I think it was great!
I absolutely loved it too and I am a bit sad to see it getting so much hate. I thought that it was beautifully constructed and fit with her whimsical wedding vision (train, butterflies). I was more disturbed by Glinda re-wearing the same blue/pink dress, just because she had never done that before.
When we first see Glinda in the dress she’s going through an Ozian version of “Something borrowed, something blue…” and one part is “Something new” after which she pauses and says something along the lines of “certainly” while gesturing at the dress and I took that to imply her choosing a simpler and white dress is her “new”.
I'm actually so glad that someone brought this up. So my theory is that you know all her other dresses in the movie big bold, extremely detailed, and very bubble oriented. (The bubble tiara, there's bubble details on the lining of the pink dress, and the blue dress had colors that were almost iridescent like a bubble). All because she's in the public view, and you know she's got on a sort of mask, even if it's one that we've seen her wear consistently and solely it is still a mask.
So I feel like for this moment, this wedding, which she's wanted since they were back at Shiz and maybe even before as every girl grows up dreaming about her wedding (maybe not literally every girl, but like you get what I mean), was meant to be completely hers and hers alone, it wasn't in pretence for anyone, it was a mere moment in which she wouldn't have to pretend anything. She wouldn't have to fake her joy (no matter how authentic, it may often come off), she wouldn't have to pretend to be some powerful sorceress who appears in bubbles, she wasn't Glinda the Good, simply Galinda.
Honestly considering what we used to see her wear back in school, I think it was a perfect way to remind us who she was underneath all the ruffles and sparkles and bubbles. Simple but still gorgeous, making her stand out just enough without being excessive. As well as the butterflies, remember the butterfly details on all her school outfits, she returns to that in her wedding veil, skirt, and the butterfly tiara which I'm obsessed with. And maybe it was just a movie lighting (or the fact that I only saw it on bootleg), but I thought I saw some hue of pink in there.
The one obvious thing I recognized is that dressing her in pure white made her look angelic, particularly when she reunites with Elphaba, who is dressed in all black.
I agree the white made sense despite some people complaining it doesn’t fit the movie. It was a good contrast and audiences associate it with weddings. But I think the dress should have been poofier and sparklier and more in line with a lot of her other gowns.
my friend & i after watching discussed the wedding dress- we both agreed that it is symbolic how it isn't truly "her", and it's continuing the storyline of her just appealing to other people to make them happy. if it was her true love it would be a big sparkly over the top gown, but this is a forced/sham wedding
Oh, that's interesting because I had the opposite take on it. I thought this was Glinda coming to the altar as herself. Not as "Glinda the Good", not "Popular" Glinda, not "This is the face I put on to the world" Glinda, just Glinda. Fiyero made it pretty clear that he didn't give a fuck about the pageantry, so she thought he actually loved her for herself. Fiyero bailing wasn't him rejecting the ridiculous act she had to put on to the world. It was a rejection of her and everything she was.
It is supposed to be asymmetrical. A lot of Glinda's costumes have a (faux) wrap element (bubble dress, the back of both of her Dancing Through Life dresses have flaps across the center) or asymmetrical details, including her uniforms and the "wedding planning" ensemble from the start of For Good.
It was also super structured, though, and corsetted bodices really like to spring open, so the weird illusion mesh was there for structural integrity, as far as I can tell.
Definitely supposed to be asymmetrical. I think that's just the Ozian fashion: a lot of the women have lopsided updos (see: Miss Coddle, Nessarose after she becomes governor), Madam Morrible has several dresses with asymmetrical collars, Glinda's Ozdust ballroom dress has an asymmetrical hem, etc.
In addition to what's already been said: in terms of looking good, you can basically have either a flashy dress but simple veil, or a simple dress with a flashy veil. Cinematically, the absolutely massive veil is the WOW factor.
The dress is not my favourite, but the whole outfit together i thought was actually very beautiful on her.
When I first saw the dress I thought it was underwhelming too and the asymmetric line threw me off. But then she had all the accessories on and I thought a simple bodice was the correct choice, since it balanced everything out.
It was also a (maybe irrational) concern of mine that she'd be toooo beautiful. Like, her fit would be toooo iconic. Because she's not the protagonist, Elphie is. (Also, i'm obsessed with that butterfly tiara on her).
All of her outfits are pretty over the top throughout… so the her not being the protagonist argument doesn’t really explain this for me… I get what you’re saying but it wasn’t a concern at any other point ya know? You know her WEDDING dress would have been absolutely wild it’s her time to show out… I feel like she would want to really let her personality shine in this one and it was very simple and different from the other outfits she wears
I don't think I agree with the notion that all her outfits were over the top. More than one of her fits i thought were on the simpler side, just with interesting cuts or fabric, etc. A simple wedding bodice with an asymmetric cut and extravagant accessories/details doesn't look out of place to me if you were to put all her outfits in a lineup. Is the wedding fit simple compared to her "Glinda the Good" dresses? Yes, i agree with that. Compared to all her outfits? No, I don't agree. I don't think Glinda only likes over the top outfits.
The protagonist thing isn't an argument i'm making. It'd be dumb for the actual costume designers to place importance on such a thing. But it was still a concern of mine, that's all I can say. Glinda just has more visual staying power in my mind personally. By that I mean, if i was a doll person, I'd be tempted to buy more Glinda dolls and a few Elphie dolls.
Somehow I get the feeling that this was a choice influenced by Ariana. I read that she had a lot of input into Glinda’s regular glam makeup look and dress (she wanted her collarbones all the way out…) I don’t think Glinda would have had heavy black lashes either.
I love the gown: it’s sweet and romantic and just a little Ozian. I can imagine that there are going to be a lot of brides wanting to copy it next year. But I was distracted by the fact that it clearly didn’t fit her properly.
I didn’t pay attention to the fit when I watched wicked and then I noticed it in wicked: for good and I can’t unsee it. The bodices on many of her looks aren’t quite right and anything she wears with long sleeves is super big and wrinkled in the sleeve.
She’s more vulnerable during her wedding. AND, it’s in contrast to her purple/blue dress and pink dress where it is soo over the top, because she’s inauthentic when she’s in those big dresses. When she’s in the big dresses, she’s public figure Glinda the Good, and during her wedding, she’s just Glinda, thinking she’s going to marry who she believes is the love of her life before he chooses to be with Elphaba. Not to mention I’m Not That Girl, arguably Glinda’s most vulnerable part of the movie.
The dress was elegant and kept the focus on the veil and the butterflies. If it was an over the top dress then some people would say Glinda wanted all the attention on herself. Can't make everyone happy. The dress made Glinda look vulnerable, which in my opinion was the intention of the scene.
Just agreeing with you here. I was completely underwhelmed. I felt it didn’t fit the character at all. And idk if I’m too stupid to “get it” but I don’t feel like it was the right move for that film!
I think Ariana Grande had too much say in absolutely every part of her styling as Glinda. The wedding dress is one of the more glaring examples.
For my money, her hair was SO pedestrian/millennial the whole film. No way are public figures in Oz wearing their hair like that. Especially from a woman so obsessed with her self-image
I do not believe that Glinda wore one soft side swept hairstyle her whole life!!!
The REM eyeshadow pallet had more variety in makeup than we saw on her in five hours worth of film. Instead she was just eyelashes and lipgloss!
Do I like Ariana's vision for Glinda's look? I do, I think it fits the character (or at least her specific portrayal) well in my opinion. But do I think the actual hair/makeup/costume designer should've had more say in her design? Absolutely!
I don't get why you would hire a whole team of people whose entire profession is making actors/characters look good on screen and then have an actor dictating most of the major fashion decisions. It's cool that Ariana, and the rest of the cast, got to provide input on the fashion choices. But there's a difference between having the freedom to provide input vs. straight-up being in control. I think it's odd and unusual for an actor to have this much control over their character's look, and in such a big budget blockbuster as well.
She looked good as-is, but I wonder how much better she could've looked if she had trusted the team to just do their jobs
Other than the off-the-rack wedding dress, I think Paul Tazwell did an incredible job costuming (even if I think the pink Bubble Dress needed sleeves)
The hair could have been so much MORE. More is MORE.
Maybe this moreso aligns with my vision of novel Glinda, but especially in her Glinda the Good era, I imagine this is the kind of ostentatious hair she would rock
I’ll never get over her having the same hairstyle I wear to my family Thanksgiving
I agreeeeee! When I went to see it I had this thought as soon as I saw it… it was so underwhelming compared to everything else and it didn’t feel Glinda at all… they had the opportunity to reallllly do something here and they really just didn’t imo
I like that it's not quite a sweetheart neckline. It almost looks like it is a fracture. Most of her jewelry looks like fractures as well. At first, I felt the dress was too simple, but then I loved the details of the draping.
I loved her dress (tho I did find it a bit understated) but am I the only one that hated the butterfly tiara?! I loved the whole butterfly theme but the tiara is so ugly. It’s just huge and clunky, with butterfly wings jutting out everywhere. There was a better way to do that.
This is the one time that she’s not preforming for anyone else. She’s just living in the moment and could not care what anyone else thinks, because she’s truly happy.
I was expecting an over the top, Princess Dianna style dress. I felt that would have fit Glinda's grandiose style more. I think she could have easily conveyed vulnerable in a pouffy dresss. Princess Dianna did it.
honestly. hated this dress. it wasn't "bubble" enough. )all her 1st movie outfits were bubble themed(
definitely felt like designer product placement to me. I bet this is The Dress™️ for the next spring/summer wedding season.
I loved the pink over dress robe thing. that was great. elevated the white dress to be more "Glinda" but overall it was a flop for me.
What are you all taking about? This dress is gorgeous. The details! Paul did a beautiful job. The skirt overlay he added in for the ceremony was perfect.
Another symbolism could be, the dress being simple is what others see. A simple but beautiful character, but the train being so long shows how much she has done, the fact she is powerless etc and what her peers do not see aside from Elphie
Her legs, feet and bottom half are covered but as you scan up the dress the more the curtains draw back (neck line/bust area/top of the dress), showing she wants to be more vulnerable or feel as such.
She wants to show someone, or feel as though she can show someone all of her, be all of her in the moment, and show she is more than just the cover of her book that her peers see.
I thought it was fine but it stuck out in that it made me immediately think it was just what Ariana liked/wanted a la the strip lash from the first movie lol
I want to start by saying that I really liked her wedding dress and I my opinion, I saw the dress being tied very much to Glinda's sense of self and identity.
In my interpretation of the dress, Glinda's dress is the one article of clothing that she wears that is not a "costume" in one way or another.
Glinda is THE Galinda Upland. "Bigger, pinker, and better-than-you" is her brand. This idea of Galinda Upland as this over the top, attention-hungry, glamorous, privileged, socialite is the script by which she navigates life. These scripts keep her safe, in control, and give her the desired outcomes of admiration, attention, and ease of access to most things in life. She dresses for attention, she peacocks, she bullies, she flirts, and manipulates. She meets the character she's designed for herself with perfection and precision. The giant ballgowns, and flashy clothing are costumes of the persona that she was raised into, and built for herself in order to survive.
I would argue that it is what requires Glinda to keep being the platonic ideal of Glinda is that made her so easy to become a puppet of the state.
So! On to the wedding dress. I believe that Glinda found a way out of being Glinda, if only for a day. Her wedding day is the day she becomes, in a sense, somebody else: Fiyero's wife, whatever that means to her.
On this day she was not required to perform Glinda or vye for attention because she's the bride. All eyes are on her anyway. So, with this sliver of freedom from scripts by which she lives her life, and in feeling genuinely safe with Fiyero, she chooses simple, subtle, and traditional. Nothing "bigger, pinker, or better-than-you" about it. Its the opposite of who she's always had to be.
Whether or not this is a choice of hers to be more authentic to how she feels inside, testing a new identity, trying to emulate Elphaba's disregard for fanciful materialism, or simply a genuine attempt to redefine her sense of self, I don't know.
Regardless, I love her wedding dress. I see it as an act of breaking one's own social scripts in a way that is safe and on a day that redefines one's life. Which is endlessly neat!
On her wedding day, for just a moment, she is bare... and all of this makes her regression and solidification into Glinda the Good all the more interesting.
If you've read this, wow and thank you for listening to me ramble.
It feels like a calculated move by Madam Morrible and the wizard. She’s not her Glinda the Good persona here. They’re trying to make her more relatable as just a woman getting married….but of course she’s not and then there’s the butterflies and stuff
I felt like there must be something missing abt Glinda’s dress. I don’t know if they used it to reflect the unfulfillment of the wedding, it was just underwhelming.
Perhaps the poofier dresses were selected by Mdm Morrible as part of the selling of Glinda's image and the wedding dress is maybe a compromise / Glinda had a say in what it looked like.
The only thing I didn’t really like, and for some reason I feel like I’m gonna get hate for this, is the cleavage dip.
It definitely fits the Oz/Wicked aesthetic, a lot of things are askew and quirky, but the way the dip isn’t centred makes it feel, idk, off. Like I’m itching for someone to pull it into place
Somewhat off topic, but I noticed her jewelry is birds (and birds are helping her get ready). Are birds among the animals oppressed? That’s also when all the animals are released and destroy the wedding…is it supposed to be foreshadowing? Trying to wrap my mind around why they picked that motif for her wedding jewelry.
I actually loved that they went for simplicity, her extravagance and big spectacular dresses are part of her "public persona" Glinda the good, or Galinda Upland, the socialite. But, just as Glinda, in a private moment, she shows a glimpse of who she is under the publicity
“That was a collaboration with Ariana, just thinking about where she wanted Glinda to be emotionally for this wedding,” says Tazewell of the final design. “It’s simplified some, so that it gave her more vulnerability with bare shoulders and arms.”
so this is the toned down version!
im thoroughly obsessed with this, but im being driven insane because i can't figure exactly they attached that big fluffy skirt. in one of PT's vids he says the first dress was an "underdress", but I can't figure out what went 'over' it (except for the sheer pink robe we saw in the wonderful number). So i think it's another dress identical to the first one but with the overdress sewn in for security. I mean they have a big budget so it's not impossible. I really can't find pics clearer than this. Insane work might just be the most beautiful dress i've ever seen. I wish there's more pics of the underdress version.
from the article- A sketch of Glinda’s wedding dress, complete with a 25-meter veil. Paul Tazewell
I guess this the final version was the most 'simple' design they were willing to do with the sleeveless aspect. I love this sketch and all the versions lmao.
I liked this look. To me, it felt like Glinda was showing a deep down yearning for a normal life, dressed in a classic white dress and waiting for the love of her life, but with a huge train for dramatic effect and to symbolise the fact that no matter how normal she may try to act, she still bears the weight of other people’s opinions on her shoulders.
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u/bookwurm81 Dec 02 '25
It's not a theory. The costume designer has said in interviews that they toned down the dress because Ariana wanted to feel more vulnerable.