It’s been five days since Wicked: For Good landed in Aussie cinemas and rewired the national conversation to of all things, knitwear.
If you haven’t seen it yet, let me spoil just this much: Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), mid-movie, finally gets her honey Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) alone and, as “As Long As You’re Mine” plays, she slips into the world’s most cardigan-looking cardigan.
The scene that should have been Wicked’s big steamy moment somehow became about wool, and the internet is having a field day.
So here’s what went down. After what felt like a lifetime of yearning, Elphaba and Fiyero duck away to her forest bunker, ready for their passionate musical number. She ditches her tailored black layers, looks deep into his lovely, post-Glinda (Ariana Grande) eyes, and — rather than getting straight into it — drags on the chunkiest of cardigans that looks like it just survived the dustiest of music festivals and possibly also a possum attack. It’s so oversized it nearly swallows her whole, and as the two levitate mid-song, the cardigan somehow manages to get even longer.
People are obsessed and, above all, kind of confused. Pop culture writers have called it everything from a “heinous distraction” to “the real villain of Oz”.
Vulture writer Jason P. Frank flat out said he was “being driven insane” by its presence, while social media is serving meme after meme dissecting the style move heard round the world.
On Reddit, the cardigan has defenders — “she lives off the grid, what do you want, silk?” — but for most, it’s the ultimate meme material.
Here’s where I put my hat in the ring for Team Cardigan. Elphaba is canonically an outcast, a schemer, and — when push comes to literal levitation in the forest — way more likely to reach for what feels right over what looks hot.
Paul Tazewell, the film’s Oscar-winning costume designer, was always about matching the wardrobe to the character’s headspace, and that shambolic knit is pure Elphie: vulnerable, uncomfortable, maybe even defiant against the idea that sex appeal has to mean skin.
“That look was greatly informed by Cynthia,” Tazewell told The London Standard.
“It came out of lots of conversations around how we represent this very intimate moment, the big moment where the two lovers are coming together.”
Besides, if I’d been hounded by the Wizard for the umpteenth time I’d be grabbing my cozzies too. Plus, I’m pretty sure it was her first time doing the deed and I’m sure the cardigan didn’t stay on for long anyhow.
Yes, the cardigan is a little random and kind of makes things weird. But isn’t that the point? The coolest girl in Oz gets her love scene and insists on her comfort.
I definitely am wary of this piece entering ‘she’s not like other girls’ territory, but if anything, it makes Elphie a bit more relatable — you’re telling me you’ve never gotten cold whilst boinking?? Maybe she just has poor circulation and gets cold easily! God forbid a diva wants to feel safe and comfy in her sex cardigan!
Sorry for yelling.
Anywho the moral of the story is that the sex cardigan is genius and I will not be accepting further criticism at this time.
Lead image: Wicked / X
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