“Look, there’s Glinda,” a munchkin shouts as Glinda descends from the rafters of the theater onto the stage in a bubble wearing a bedazzled, layered light blue dress. However, the blue dress from the musical was one of the costumes that did not find its way from the yellow brick road to the big screen.
From the initial trailer to marketing, Ariana Grande’s Glinda has become associated with the newly pink dress.
In a New York Times’ article, “Wicked” movie costume designer Paul Tazwell said director Jon M. Chu instructed him to reimagine the pre-existing world of Oz and its costumes.
With this in mind, Tazwell chose to have Glinda’s bubble dress be inspired by bubbles utilizing the Fibonacci spiral, also referred to as the “Golden Ration,” which is a mathematical formula that can be used to explain the perfect spacing of petals on a flower and other phenomenons in nature.
Although the spiral was utilized to add a dash of mystery to the character’s dress, the “Golden Ratio” can also refer to how Glinda is perceived as the “golden witch” between her and Elphaba because she chooses not to rebel against the Wizard, becoming “Glinda, the Good.”
Glinda’s pink dress was also printed with bubbles embellished with foil to create an iridescent appearance.
But why is the dress now pink? Doesn’t the color blue also invoke bubble-related imagery?
Tazwell said throughout the musical in key moments like Glinda’s introduction and when she arrives at the Emerald City, she tends to wear other colors venturing from her association with the color pink.
To create a stronger association between Glinda and her signature color, Tazwell said he chose to incorporate the color in her wardrobe throughout the entire two movies.
With concerns of pink becoming a less popular color following the one year anniversary of Barbie’s release and pop culture dwindling interest in the color, Tazwell said the color was not utilized for marketing, but to track the progression of Glinda’s character.
However, Grande’s previous marketing for albums like “Thank U, Next” and her perfume company, has led Grande to be associated with a feminine image and the color pink.
During Grande’s marketing campaign for “Thank U, Next,” she relied on the nostalgia of movies like “Mean Girls” and “Legally Blonde,” both films where the color pink is very prevalent.
Even simply searching Grande on the internet, pink has been a long standing color in her wardrobe from pink oversized sweatshirts to pink skater skirts.
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Grande has also released five perfumes in pink bottles: “Ari by Ariana Grande,” “Sweet Like Candy,” “Thank U, Next,” “Mod Blush” and “Cloud Pink.” For reference, Grande has released 14 perfumes which makes pink a prevalent color used for her perfume marketing.
With Grande’s association to the color pink, it further proves Glinda in the “Wicked” movie is Grande’s Glinda, not the broadway Glinda originated by Kristin Chenoweth.
Focusing on the differences between Grande and Chenoweth is their color analysis, a tool used to determine one’s best colors and is divided into four seasons corresponding to the four weather seasons.
With Grande’s recent change to blonde hair, many have begun to speculate if Grande is a dark autumn because of the warmth in her skin and how her hair and eyes contrast it. There is less certainty regarding Chenoweth’s color season with some speculating she is a true spring because of her skin’s warmth and the brightness of features, like her eyes.
Glinda’s blue dress falters Chenoweth’s features as it is found within the true spring’s color palette. Meanwhile, the shade of pink used for Grande’s dress falters her contrasting features because it can be found in the dark autumn palette.
For these reasons, it can be argued that Glinda’s formerly blue dress received a pink update to further differentiate Chu’s Oz and allow for this depiction of Glinda to be strongly associated with Grande.
