Tori Calamito shows her dress designed by Paper City Fabrics owner Joseph Charles at the “Wicked” movie premiere in Los Angeles.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
HOLYOKE — Paper City Fabrics owner and Holyoke-based fashion designer Joseph Charles collaborated with popular content creator Tori Calamito to create a sustainable custom gown for the movie premiere of “Wicked” on Saturday, Nov. 9 in Los Angeles.
Calamito is best known to her 250,000 plus followers on multiple platforms as “The Oz Vlog,” where she voices her passion for the film while sharing memorabilia and other facts.
For 27 years, Calamito has dedicated her time to collecting and preserving Oz memorabilia and researching the history of L. Frank Baum’s work and the various films and other media those works have inspired.
She has had the opportunity to work with many brands including Universal and Wicked the Musical.
The film, based on the long-running Broadway musical, functions as a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz” film and stars Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elpheba.
Calamito is an official Oz historian who has garnered a devoted following on social media for her videos about the “Wizard of Oz” books, movie, collectibles and fandom.
Both Charles and Calamito are devoted Oz enthusiasts. Charles still remembers the first time he watched “The Wizard of Oz” at 3 years old, which he credits with sparking his interest in the creative arts and eventual career in fashion design.
Charles said he follows Calamito or The Oz Vlog on Tik Tok and Instagram and decided to reach out to her and offered to design her a dress for the movie premiere.
“From my background in fashion and being around sort of that world, I had a feeling she would get invited to the premiere and so I just sort of sent a message to say, ‘if you need a dress let me know, would love to work with you,’” Charles said.
Charles and Calamito started to talk about designing the dress in July.
“I thought it turned out beautifully. [Charles] is such a talented artist. He put that dress together in less than a month and I have never felt more stunning in my life,” Calamito expressed.
Charles talked more about the collaboration with an Oz enthusiast and said, “Collaborating with Tori has been a dream come true. Our shared love and appreciation for ‘The Wizard of Oz’ has made this project especially meaningful. Creating a piece that honors both the magical world of Oz and sustainable fashion perfectly embodies what I strive for as a designer.”
The design for the dress included a pink off-the-shoulder gown with an intricate chevron overlay, and detailed beading, which gives a nod to Glinda.
The gown itself is also created entirely from secondhand fabric sourced from Paper City Fabrics, a thrift fabric store in Holyoke that sells previously purchased but never used fabric for just $4 per yard.
Charles talked more about the importance of using secondhand fabric and how it ties in with the fashion industry today.
He explained, “At a time when the fashion industry is reckoning with its environmental impact, this gown demonstrates what we can do with existing materials. Every yard of fabric used in this piece was given a second chance to become something magnificent, proving that sustainable fashion can be both luxurious and accessible.”
Calamito was counting down the days until the premiere and shared her thoughts on the design process and collaboration.
She said, “Working with Joseph on this dress has been incredible. His passion for Oz matches my own, and together we’ve created something that celebrates the classic tale and the future of the fandom.”
After going to the premiere, Calamito talked about her “wonderful” time at the premiere.
“It was a dream come true, pinch me, just unbelievable. After being an Oz fan, an Oz historian, being there in person and seeing all these people so excited to see the film was just a dream come true,” she said.
This isn’t the first time Holyoke has had a connection to Oz on the silver screen. The 1939 film was costumed by Adrian, a designer who frequently used silk manufactured by Skinner Silk in Holyoke in his costumes for MGM studios.
The movie will be released globally on Nov. 22 and both Charles and Calamito shared their thoughts and excitement.
Charles said, “It’s so exciting. I’m originally from New York City and so I’ve seen ‘Wicked’ several times and it’s going to be the new huge movie musical. It’s been a while so it’s exciting to kind of see movie musicals and seeing such an effort go behind it.”
Calamito, who saw an early screening, said, “The film is spectacular. Oz hasn’t looked this good in 85 years. The filmmakers really took their time and built Oz. For Oz fans, there’s something there for everyone no matter where you came from in the Oz fandom, there’s something there for you. It does a beautiful job of adapting the musical and I think it will go down in history as a classic.
