Wicked For Good Viewers React To Elphaba’s ‘Sex Cardigan’

This article contains spoilers for Wicked For Good.

In the few short days since it first hit cinemas, Wicked For Good has already become the film the whole world is talking about, with its soundtrack ascending the streaming charts and ticket sales bringing in millions.

Naturally, it’s also dominating the conversation online, with the film already providing fans with plenty of memes.

But there’s one part of the movie that seems to have really captured everyone’s attention.

During Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey’s passionate love duet As Long As You’re Mine, they’re seen slowly undressing as they prepare for their first night together.

However, Wicked For Good being a PG movie, Elphaba and Fieryo perform most of their duet separately, with Cynthia’s character even chucking what looks like a grey cardi over some black lingerie while she sings, in what’s come to be known as her “sex cardigan”.

Vulture’s Jason P. Frank appears to have coined the term in his piece “I’m Being Driven Insane by Wicked: For Good’s Sex Cardigan”, with Glamour following with an impassioned defence of the knitted garment.

Meanwhile, Metro is claiming that “Elphaba’s ‘sex cardigan’ worked in Wicked, but it’s a fairytale for most women”, while The Guardian is pondering: “Can the Wicked sequel make bulky knits strangely alluring?”

Over on X, fans have been having a lot of fun while debating whether or not Elphaba’s wardrobe choice worked for the moment…

Wicked’s Oscar-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell has already shared his take on the garment, insisting to The Standard that it’s neither a cardigan, nor a dressing gown, but is, in fact, a peignoir (us neither, but Wikipedia says it’s “a long outer garment for women which is frequently sheer and made of chiffon or another translucent fabric”).

“That look was greatly informed by Cynthia,” Tazewell said. “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.”

He pointed out: “We see the green skin of her legs and her arms, normalising that for the two of them so that we can actually feel that love connection.”

Wicked For Good is in cinemas now.