The Outfits That Made The Show: Best Costume Design 2025-2026

By Ben Schachne

A Look at the Best Costume Designs Behind the 2026 Tony Nominees

Costume design is one of the first storytelling tools an audience encounters that reveals character, time period, and tone in an instant. Far more than clothing, costumes reflect a character’s identity, relationships, ambitions, and emotional journey, while helping create a cohesive visual language that unites an entire production.

The 2025–2026 Broadway season featured an extraordinary range of costume design, from meticulously researched period dress to boldly stylized creations that reimagined familiar stories. The productions below highlight how thoughtful design can deepen characterization, elevate world-building, and leave a lasting visual impression long after the curtain falls.

Cats: The Jellicle Ball

Winner of the 2026 Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Musical, Cats: The Jellicle Ball completely reimagines what it means and looks like to be a Jellicle Cat. By placing the musical within the vibrant world of Ballroom culture, the production replaces traditional feline aesthetics with the high-fashion, extravagant, and unapologetically expressive looks synonymous with New York City’s underground LGBTQ+ Ballroom scene. Qween Jean’s designs are fierce and electrifying, using bold silhouettes, dazzling color, and couture-inspired craftsmanship to create costumes that are as much a celebration of identity and self-expression as they are an essential part of the production’s storytelling.

Schmigadoon!

Nominated for the 2026 Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Musical, Schmigadoon! translates the vibrant visual identity of the Apple TV+ series into an even more dazzling Broadway wardrobe. Drawing inspiration from the bright palettes, classic silhouettes, and unmistakable style of Golden Age musicals, Linda Cho’s designs lovingly parody the era while celebrating its timeless charm. Bursting with color and personality, the costumes bring the idyllic town of Schmigadoon! to life, seamlessly complementing the production’s whimsical world and exuberant spirit.

Fallen Angels

Winner of the 2026 Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Play, Fallen Angels captures the sophistication and glamour of a pivotal moment in fashion history. Costume designer Jeff Mahshie shifted the production’s setting to 1929–1930, embracing the sleek elegance of early 1930s style in place of the looser silhouettes more commonly associated with the Roaring Twenties. From impeccably tailored suits and bright golf attire to effortlessly chic evening dresses, the costumes are timeless, luxurious, and perfectly suited to Noël Coward’s stylish comedy.

The Rocky Horror Show

Nominated for the 2026 Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Musical, The Rocky Horror Show celebrates the cult classic’s 53-year legacy while boldly revitalizing the iconic looks of its characters. David I. Reynoso embraces an intentionally raw, gritty, and DIY aesthetic, crafting costumes that feel handmade and rebellious, including one of Luke Evans’ Frank N. Furter dresses that is trimmed with ribbons from trash bags. Rich in texture, inventive materials, and subtle nods to past productions and the beloved film, the costumes perfectly capture the musical’s intoxicating blend of punk, sci-fi, horror, and camp.

Ragtime

Nominated for the 2026 Tony Award for Best Costume Design of a Musical, Ragtime captures the elegance and complexity of early twentieth-century America through a wardrobe that feels both historically authentic and remarkably fresh. Earning Linda Cho her second Tony nomination of the season, the meticulously crafted costumes are sweeping, detailed, and have a lived-in sense of realism. As the musical follows three distinct communities whose lives gradually intertwine, the designs subtly distinguish their cultures, social classes, and identities while reinforcing the production’s historical perspective.