Award-winning Costume Designer Paul G. Tazewell To Be Honored At FashionAFRICANA’s Inaugural Gala

Paul G. Tazewell believes that a costume is more than just a piece of apparel.
The character exists inside the fabric. For almost 30 years, Tazewell has been creating costumes for Broadway, regional theater, movies and television shows, dance, and opera performances. “I love the process, and I love collaborating with people,” the designer stated. “I hope I have represented the story (of the show) and each of the characters as truthfully as I could.”
Tazewell is being honored this evening at the Pittsburgh Public Theater in Downtown Pittsburgh at the “Experience Africanism,” FashionAFRICANA’s inaugural gala honoring black and African designers, artists, and more.
Demeatria Boccella, the producer and curator of style, culture, and design behind Demeatria Boccella Productions, launched FashionAFRICANA in 2001.

Through fashion and art, it is a multimedia event series and educational platform that delves into black beauty, culture, and history.
Producing the event, Boccella remarked, “Our inaugural gala is an opportunity to celebrate the diversity of the African Diaspora and the many contributions of black creatives to arts and culture globally.” “We are overjoyed to have a host committee comprised of such amazing individuals who are dedicated to elevating and commemorating black creativity.”
Kiya Tomlin, a fashion designer from Pittsburgh, is the honorary chair. The evening will celebrate and highlight the diversity, depth, and vitality of black culture. Live music, a carefully chosen beauty experience, and clothing with African influences will all be present.

Dinner for VIPs starts at 6:30 p.m. At 8 p.m. is the main event.
A dance party and performances of modern dance and music are planned.
The debut of Cameroonian fashion designer Imane Ayissi in the United States will take place in Paris. Time Magazine’s “America Must Change” edition included artwork by artist Charly Palmer on its cover.
Palmer will get recognition during the occasion in addition to Tazewell.
He declared, “I want to be known as someone who has changed things.” “I am appreciative of this honor.”
The work Tazewell did on Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first Broadway production of “Hamilton” is what made him most famous. Tazewell and the musical shared the blockbuster Tony Award.
2016 saw him win an Emmy for his work on NBC’s “The Wiz! Live.”

Tazewell is a New York City resident with Pittsburgh ties. The August Wilson Center in Downtown Los Angeles hosted a presentation of the costumes he created for the NBC television series “The Wiz Live” in 2016. He worked on that show alongside Boccella.

At the time, Tazewell declared, “My costume designs for ‘The Wiz Live’ is work that I will forever be proud of.” “I am ecstatic that people will have the unique chance to view my work in person at this exhibit, where they can get a close-up look at the exquisite craftsmanship and detail of these stunning costumes.”

Tazewell stated that since creating costumes requires a great deal of labor, having them on display in this way offers visitors an insight that they would not otherwise obtain, whether viewing a play on stage, on television, or in a movie theater.

Tazewell has always had a deep love for movies and theater. While a junior at Akron, Ohio’s Buchtel High School, he created the costumes for his first complete musical, “The Wiz.”
Arnold Thomas, the director of the summer musical and a teacher in the high school’s performing arts department, asked Tazewell to create the costumes for “The Wiz” and other productions for both the summer musical theater and the high school.

“I am really grateful that Arnold Thomas trusted me to dress the cast,” Tazewell remarked. “The goal is to make the outfit come to life. That was undoubtedly a life-changing event and a major learning process. My family values education, and we are educators ourselves.

The Metropolitan Opera, the Bolshoi Ballet, the English National Opera, the Public Theater, the National Theater, the Kennedy Center, the Guthrie Theater, the Arena Stage, the Houston Grand Opera, and the San Francisco Opera are just a few of the organizations with which Tazewell has collaborated.
He declared, “It is not just about performance.” “Every path is crucial to your development.”

He takes advantage of every chance to collaborate with aspiring costume designers. Because he mentioned that there weren’t many African Americans working in costume design at one point in time.
He enjoys making historical and period costumes in particular, although he doesn’t have a favorite outfit. He claimed that the process of creating a costume involves combining the ideas of the costume designer, director, writer, actors, actresses, and all other participants in the performance, which makes it an exciting process overall.

He graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and a master’s degree in fine arts from New York University. He has taught as a guest lecturer at the North Carolina School of the Arts and New York University.

He was a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University in Oakland from 2003 to 2006.
It’s amazing to be back in Pittsburgh for this occasion, he remarked.

Tazewell said, “Africanism is expressed in an amazing way.” “It’s explosive, and I want to share it with a wider community and embrace its diversity more.”

Content courtesy of Trib Live & NFH