Legendary costumer and Akron native Paul Tazewell teamed up with Kelly Clarkson to surprise Firestone High School senior and aspiring fashion designer Troy Weiss.
CLEVELAND — Akron native and Oscar-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell teamed up with Kelly Clarkson this week to give a wickedly sweet surprise to an aspiring fashion designer from his hometown.
Troy Weiss, a senior at Firestone High School, was a guest on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” on Thursday during an episode timed with the release of “Wicked: For Good.” What he didn’t know is that Tazewell, a fellow Akron Public Schools product and the creative force behind the “Wicked” films’ costumes, had appeared on the same episode right before him — and that he’d get a chance to meet his idol.
“Not only are we from the same place … but he recently won an Oscar for costuming,” Weiss told Clarkson. “He’s a staple of my life. I have realized that Paul sees fashion through a lens that is so much similar to mine. He is very individual. He understands that fashion is a language, and clothes say so much without saying a thing.”
Just moments later, Clarkson announced that the show had a surprise for Troy and brought Tazewell out on stage to join him. To complete the reveal, Clarkson and Tazewell also presented the teen with tickets to see Tazewell’s Tony-winning designs in “Death Becomes Her” on Broadway.
“I’m blown away — just the way that you present yourself, and how you communicate,” Tazewell told Weiss. “You’re so much further ahead than I was when I was your age, just as far as being okay in your own skin. And that’s a huge part of how to take up space in this business, one, but then also in life.”
You can watch the full segment from “The Kelly Clarkson Show” below: