Every year, leading up to the Oscars, I break down every single category. It’s essentially a precursor to my picks. I explain all the stuff that needs to be explained in detail, so when the time comes to make my picks, I can refer to it as a shorthand.
In the articles, I’ll go over each category’s history, show previous winners and nominees, then list the current year’s nominees, talk about the guild history, if it’s important, what the guilds went with this year, whether that means anything for that particular category — all the background you need to know to make an informed decision. And then, once that’s all done, I’ll rank the nominees in that category in order of their likelihood to win, based on how I see it at the present.
The only difference between this year and previous years is that this year, I’ll be doing only one category a day instead of multiple categories. This is so I can take more time with each category and not stuff a bunch into a single article for information overload, and, simply, so I don’t have to do as much work. Though it is also easier this way. One category, one day.
Today, we do Best Costume Design, which is always a fun little crapshoot. Since in years like this, we have to decide whether they’re gonna go with the ultra period piece the way they love to do, or if they’re gonna go with something a bit more recent.
|
Year |
Best Costume Design Winners |
Other Nominees |
|
1948 |
Black and White: Hamlet Color: Joan of Arc |
Black and White: B.F.’s Daughter Color: The Emperor Waltz |
|
1949 |
Black and White: The Heiress Color: Adventures of Don Juan |
Black and White: Prince of Foxes Color: Mother is a Freshman |
|
1950 |
Black and White: All About Eve Color: Samson and Delilah |
Black and White: Born Yesterday The Magnificent Yankee Color: The Black Rose That Forsythe Woman |
|
1951 |
Black and White: A Place in the Sun Color: An American in Paris |
Black and White: Kind Lady The Model and the Marriage Broker The Mudlark A Streetcar Named Desire Color: David and Bathsheba The Great Caruso Quo Vadis? The Tales of Hoffmann |
|
1952 |
Black and White: The Bad and the Beautiful Color: Moulin Rouge |
Black and White: Affair in Trinidad Carrie My Cousin Rachel Sudden Fear Color: The Greatest Show on Earth Hans Christian Andersen The Merry Widow |
|
1953 |
Black and White: Roman Holiday Color: The Robe |
Black and White: The Actress Dream Wife From Here to Eternity The President’s Lady Color: The Band Wagon Call Me Madam How to Marry a Millionaire |
|
1954 |
Black and White: Sabrina Color: Gate of Hell |
Black and White: The Earrings Of Madame de… Executive Suite Indiscretion of an American Wife It Should Happen To You Color: Brigadoon Désirée A Star is Born There’s No Business Like Show Business |
|
1955 |
Black and White: I’ll Cry Tomorrow Color: Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing |
Black and White: The Pickwick Papers Queen Bee The Rose Tattoo Ugetsu Color: Guys and Dolls Interrupted Melody To Catch a Thief The Virgin Queen |
|
1956 |
Black and White: The Solid Gold Cadillac Color: The King and I |
Black and White: Seven Samurai The Power and the Prize The Proud and the Profane Teenage Rebel Color: Around the World in 80 Days Giant The Ten Commandments War and Peace |
|
1957 |
Les Girls |
An Affair to Remember Funny Face Pal Joey Raintree County |
|
1958 |
Gigi |
Bell, Book and Candle The Buccaneer A Certain Smile Some Came Running |
|
1959 |
Black and White: Some Like It Hot Color: Ben-Hur |
Black and White: Career The Diary of Anne Frank The Gazebo The Young Philadelphians Color: The Best of Everything The Big Fisherman The Five Pennies Porgy and Bess |
|
1960 |
Black and White: The Facts of Life Color: Spartacus |
Black and White: Never on Sunday The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond Seven Thieves The Virgin Spring Color: Can-Can Midnight Lace Pepe Sunrise at Campobello |
|
1961 |
Black and White: La Dolce Vita Color: West Side Story |
Black and White: The Children’s Hour Claudell Inglish Judgment at Nuremberg Yojimbo Color: Babes in Toyland Back Street Flower Drum Song Pocketful of Miracles |
|
1962 |
Black and White: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Color: The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm |
Black and White: Days of Wine and Roses The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance The Miracle Worker Phaedra Color: Bon Voyage! Gypsy The Music Man My Geisha |
|
1963 |
Black and White: 8 ½ Color: Cleopatra |
Black and White: Love with the Proper Stranger The Stripper Toys in the Attic Wives and Lovers Color: The Cardinal How the West Was Won The Leopard A New Kind of Love |
|
1964 |
Black and White: The Night of the Iguana Color: My Fair Lady |
Black and White: A House is Not a Home Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte Kisses for My President The Visit Color: Becket Mary Poppins The Unsinkable Molly Brown What a Way to Go! |
|
1965 |
Black and White: Darling Color: Doctor Zhivago |
Black and White: Morituri A Rage to Live Ship of Fools The Slender Thread Color: The Agony and the Ecstasy The Greatest Story Ever Told Inside Daisy Clover The Sound of Music |
|
1966 |
Black and White: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Color: A Man for All Seasons |
Black and White: The Gospel According to St. Matthew Mandragola Mister Buddwing Morgan! Color: Gambit Hawaii Juliet of the Spirits The Oscar |
|
1967 |
Camelot |
Bonnie and Clyde The Happiest Millionaire The Taming of the Shrew Thoroughly Modern Millie |
|
1968 |
Romeo and Juliet |
The Lion in Winter Oliver! Planet of the Apes Star! |
|
1969 |
Anne of the Thousand Days |
Hello, Dolly! Gaily, Gaily Sweet Charity They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? |
|
1970 |
Cromwell |
Airport Darling Lili The Hawaiians Scrooge |
|
1971 |
Nicholas and Alexandra |
Bedknobs and Brooksticks Death in Venice Mary, Queen of Scots What’s the Matter with Helen? |
|
1972 |
Travels with My Aunt |
The Godfather Lady Sings the Blues The Poseidon Adventure Young Winston |
|
1973 |
The Sting |
Cries and Whispers Ludwig Tom Sawyer The Way We Were |
|
1974 |
The Great Gatsby |
Chinatown Daisy Miller The Godfather Part II Murder on the Orient Express |
|
1975 |
Barry Lyndon |
The Four Musketeers Funny Lady The Magic Flute The Man Who Would Be King |
|
1976 |
Fellini’s Casanova |
Bound for Glory The Incredible Sarah The Passover Plot The Seven-Per-Cent Solution |
|
1977 |
Star Wars |
Airport ‘77 Julia A Little Ngiht Music The Other Side of the Mountain |
|
1978 |
Death on the Nile |
Caravans Days of Heaven The Swarm The Wiz |
|
1979 |
All That Jazz |
Agatha La cage aux folles Butch and Sundance:: The Early Years The Europeans |
|
1980 |
Tess |
The Elephant Man My Brilliant Career Somewhere in Time When Time Ran Out |
|
1981 |
Chariots of Fire |
The French Lieutenant’s Woman Pennies from Heaven Ragtime Reds |
|
1982 |
Gandhi |
Sophie’s Choice La Traviata Tron Victor Victoria |
|
1983 |
Fanny and Alexander |
Cross Creek Heart Like a Wheel The Return of Martin Guerre Zelig |
|
1984 |
Amadeus |
2010 The Bostonians A Passage to India Places in the Heart |
|
1985 |
Ran |
The Color Purple The Journey of Natty Gann Out of Africa Prizzi’s Honor |
|
1986 |
A Room with a View |
The Mission Otello Peggy Sue Got Married Pirates |
|
1987 |
The Last Emperor |
The Dead Empire of the Sun Maurice The Untouchables |
|
1988 |
Dangerous Liaisons |
Coming to America A Handful of Dust Sunset Tucker: The Man and His Dream |
|
1989 |
Henry V |
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen Driving Miss Daisy Harlem Nights Valmont |
|
1990 |
Cyrano de Bergerac |
Avalon Dances with Wolves Dick Tracy Hamlet |
|
1991 |
Bugsy |
The Addams Family Barton Fink Hooks Madame Bovary |
|
1992 |
Bram Stoker’s Dracula |
Enchanted April Howards End Malcolm X Toys |
|
1993 |
The Age of Innocence |
Orlando The Piano The Remains of the Day Schindler’s List |
|
1994 |
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert |
Bullets over Broadway Little Women Maverick Queen Margot |
|
1995 |
Restoration |
Braveheart Richard III Sense and Sensibility 12 Monkeys |
|
1996 |
The English Patient |
Angels and Insects Emma Hamlet The Portrait of a Lady |
|
1997 |
Titanic |
Amistad Kundun Oscar and Lucinda The Wings of the Dove |
|
1998 |
Shakespeare in Love |
Beloved Elizabeth Pleasantville Velvet Goldmine |
|
1999 |
Topsy-Turvy |
Anna and the King Sleepy Hollow The Talented Mr. Ripley Titus |
|
2000 |
Gladiator |
102 Dalmatians Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon How the Grinch Stole Christmas Quills |
|
2001 |
Moulin Rouge! |
The Affair of the Necklace Gosford Park Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring |
|
2002 |
Chicago |
Frida Gangs of New York The Hours The Pianist |
|
2003 |
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King |
Girl with a Pearl Earring The Last Samurai Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Seabiscuit |
|
2004 |
The Aviator |
Finding Neverland Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events Ray Troy |
|
2005 |
Memoirs of a Geisha |
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Mrs. Henderson Presents Pride & Prejudice Walk the Line |
|
2006 |
Marie Antoinette |
Curse of the Golden Flower The Devil Wears Prada Dreamgirls The Queen |
|
2007 |
Elizabeth: The Golden Age |
Across the Universe Atonement La Vie en Rose Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street |
|
2008 |
The Duchess |
Australia The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttin Milk Revolutionary Road |
|
2009 |
The Young Victoria |
Bright Star Coco Before Chanel The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus Nine |
|
2010 |
Alice in Wonderland |
I Am Love The King’s Speech The Tempest True Grit |
|
2011 |
The Artist |
Anonymous Hugo Jane Eyre W.E. |
|
2012 |
Anna Karenina |
Les Misérables Lincoln Mirror Mirror Snow White and the Huntsman
|
Best Costume Design
American Hustle
The Grandmaster
The Great Gatsby
The Invisible Woman
12 Years a Slave
It’s always interesting, wondering where they’re gonna go. Last year, Anna Karenina was an easy choice. But I remember people thinking they might go Les Mis or Lincoln instead. The Artist wasn’t a slam dunk winner either. Anonymous and Jane Eyre were exactly up the Academy’s alley. (Then again, no one saw those movies, so I understand why they went the way they did.)
Alice in Wonderland beat The King’s Speech. Who saw that coming? Then again, it’s Coleen Atwood. And a Tim Burton film. That makes sense. Yet – The Young Victoria. Right up their alley. And did they honestly even see that one? Or was that BAFTA that pushed that one through? The Duchess, I get. Same for Elizabeth. I don’t know. It’s always a risky proposition here. Usually, you’re looking at the same winners. Colleen Atwood won three times the past eleven years. Sandy Powell has won twice.
The Costume Designers Awards aren’t always too much help. Then again, looking back — 2002 and 2003 matched. 2004 did not. (The Costume Designers and Production Designers went for Lemony Snicket while Oscar went with The Aviator.) 2005 matched. 2006 did not (they went Curse of the Golden Flower (which also won ADG. Interesting.) 2007 did not match, as the guild went Sweeney Todd and for once, the Oscars didn’t go Burton, and went Elizabeth: The Golden Age instead. (I remember that year. I was rooting for Atonement.) 2008 and 2009 matched. 2010 matched, but in Fantasy and not Period. 2011 did not match. The guild went W.E. while The Artist took the Oscar. (Which makes sense.) And 2012 matched.
So, I guess they are kind of helpful. Too bad they won’t be announcing their winners for another week. Not to mention, only three of the five Oscar nominees were nominated by the guild. That also doesn’t render them wholly helpful. (Though I guess there’s only one that theoretically could take it. But I’d be pretty surprised if it did.)
Anyway, mostly we just have to take the category as it is, and know that, if there’s a chance for them to go for the really obvious, ornate, real period piece, they will.
Rankings:
5. The Grandmaster – It was the surprise nominee (somehow picking up Costume and Cinematography nominations and not a Foreign Language Film nomination), and it won’t win. No one is gonna vote for this. Harvey’s not even gonna campaign that crazy for it. It’s on the list. That’s it’s reward. No one really saw this movie, and no one will. They’re not gonna vote for it. It’s #5.
4. The Invisible Woman – Normally this would be the “choice.” The classical choice in the category. 19th century, Dickens, London. They eat this shit right up. But… no one knows what this film is about except the Brits. And even they didn’t nominate it anywhere else but here. I would have put this higher on principle, but it has no awareness, even less awareness than Jane Eyre did two years ago. I can’t see them as a whole voting for this at all. Maybe in previous years I’d have been swayed to put this higher, but now, it’s just not the year for this sort of nominee. You can tell, because there’s only one. It’s not happening. And if it does, then it just shows us for the future how boring they can be sometimes. At least now, we have some interest in figuring out what’s going to win.
3. American Hustle – Interesting that they nominated this. They skipped Argo last year. Though I guess the costumes here were much more garish and over the top. So it does make sense. I can’t think of the last time they went this recent in this category. 1994, they gave it to The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which was contemporary. Outside of that — nothing has won from a period any older than the 20s an 30s in a while. The Last Emperor was technically 1950 onward, but even that was a whole different ball of wax. They never go with something like this. I’d be pretty surprised if they did, especially since the giant wave of support for this film seems to be deflating now that it lose DGA and PGA. (SAG helps, but that’s never a huge push for anything. Inglourious Basterds won SAG Ensemble.) I can’t consider this any higher than third. It’s not their speed in this category.
2. 12 Years a Slave – This could be their speed. It most certainly could. But were the costumes really that much that they’re gonna vote for them? It doesn’t seem like a “Costume Design” type of film. I can’t remember when this type of costume film actually won the Oscar. Lincoln didn’t win, but that also wasn’t predominantly “slave” clothing. Amistad didn’t win. The Color Purple didn’t win. (Damn. Only three movies with these kinds of costumes the past 30 years? And all three Spielberg films?!) Honestly, the only reason I really see this winning is if it’s going to win Best Picture and they want to get it some other awards. Otherwise, how can you really consider this something that’s gonna win?
1. The Great Gatsby – This looks so clearly like your winner it isn’t funny. It feels weird, thinking Gatsby will win both Production Design and Costume Design. So my guess is it’ll probably win this and not that. This seems more its category, even though I think it should win both. But I can see it winning this over that, if it’s one or the other. But, solely in this category — I don’t think Grandmaster wins and I can’t see The Invisible Woman suddenly getting enough traction to beat the rest of them, so it’s basically this, and then either 12 Years a Slave or American Hustle. And with those three, I’m sticking with the era they love — the 20s. And lavish costumes. This feels like your favorite, if not your winner.
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So that’s Costume Design. Tomorrow — Foreign Language Film.
