Cynthia Erivo Wears Two Dazzling Manicures at Once at the Mexico City 'Wicked' Premiere

Cynthia Erivo wearing two sets of manicures at the Wicked premiere — (Image credit: Getty Images)

Cynthia Erivo was a hardcore nail art enthusiast long before landing her leading role in the Wicked movie, but the elaborate Elphaba-inspired manicures she's been sporting on this press tour have me under their spell. It started with the bejeweled green and burnt orange beetle shell manicure she wore to the launch of Wicked x OPI nail polish collection in New York City. Next came the mint green and black stiletto nails crawling with flames and serpents she wore to the Academy Museum Gala and the 2024 CFDA Awards in October. And I would be remiss not to mention the black lace-tipped nails she wore to the film's Sydney premiere, complete with silver cross charms and giant emerald gems.

So far, most of Erivo's witchy manicures have been the work of nail technician Rose Hackle, with whom the star has worked for five years. For Wicked premiere in Mexico City on Nov. 11, however, the Grammy Award-winning singer tapped 19-year-old Dior, a.k.a. Clawz by Dior: a Los Angeles-based nail artist whose client list also includes Olympians Jordan Chiles and Sha'Carri Richardson.

A photo of Cynthia Erivo sporting a custom Thom Browne look topped with a pair of faux witch hands. — Cynthia Erivo sports an extra set of faux witch hands in a custom two-piece Thom Browne look.

Arguably, it was Erivo's most nail-centric ensemble yet. Whereas her co-star Ariana Grande stepped out in an iridescent strapless ball gown, Erivo hit the yellow carpet in a hooded Thom Browne bolero jacket that literally had an extra set of hands growing out of the shoulders. Topping off the two-piece set was a black and green sequin strapless dress with an exaggerated, angular hip silhouette styled by Jason Bolden. Unlike the fabric faux hands that framed her face, which were adorned with pointy dark green tips, Erivo's actual hands were decorated with glittery blood red paint spills, sharp silver spikes, and ominous black swirls.

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Cynthia Erivo with Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey on the Wicked Mexico City premiere red carpet — Erivo posed on a yellow brick red carpet with Jonathan Bailey and Ariana Grande.

Erivo even channeled her love of nail art into the styling of her character, Elphaba: Wicked's green-skinned, sorely misunderstood protagonist.

“I knew I wanted her to have micro braids, and I knew I wanted her to have a full set,” Erivo previously told Marie Claire, calling those creative choices “a nod to my culture and a nod to the character."

Extravagant nails, she continued, will play an important role in both Wicked: Part One, out on Nov. 22, and Wicked: Part Two, which is due for release in 2025. In the first installment, Elphaba's nail journey begins with a makeover scene where she gets a sparkly set of black and metallic green nails.

“In the second movie, they're much longer, much more expressive," Erivo added. "We're playing with the marbling of it, we're playing with ombré...It’s a realization of the magic that she has."

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Hanna Lustig is a staff writer at Marie Claire, where she gets to gab every day about the topics she holds most dear: fashion, beauty, and celebrity. Hanna’s editorial journey began with formative internships at Elle and InStyle, where she was lucky enough to work for some of the smartest women in media while she was still in college at the University of Tennessee. Hanna then accepted a digital culture reporting fellowship at Insider, where she helped carve out a new beat dedicated to covering influencers. Those experiences later served her well as a staff writer at Glamour, where she developed a knack for spinning quick turnaround celebrity news and trend reporting into juicy feature stories. Some of her greatest hits include an earnest ode to the no-pants trend, this meticulously reported feature exploring the rise of endoscopic facelifts, this snappy take on the Chanel-designed fantasy of Sofia Richie’s wedding, this tribute to WAGs past and present, and this timeline of Katie Holmes’s life and career as told through her denim collection.

Diane Keaton once hung up on Hanna during an interview, but thankfully that mishap did not derail what has otherwise been a deeply fulfilling career writing for and about women. As one of Marie Claire's resident experts on style and culture, her current coverage ranges from exploring TikTok's contrast makeup theory and the return of the boat shoe trend to interviews with costume designers for hit shows like Nobody Wants This and The Penguin. When she’s not at work, Hanna can probably be found listening to pop music, talking to her dog, and gossiping with her best friends. For more of Hanna’s perfect opinions on pop culture, you can follow her on Instagram and X.