Oscar Race: Best Costume Design
Thursday, February 18, 2021 at 7:00PM We aren't going to find out what the Costume Designer's Guild thinks of this past year in film until March 4th, literally the day before Oscar nomination ballots go out. That gives us two weeks still to believe that all things are possible still in this category, though obviously the season to date will have an effect on the outcome. Here are what we think are the top ten contenders in descending order of probability (though this ranking should not be seen as a meritocracy but merely punditry).
PREDICTIONS
the only lock?
MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM Ann Roth
The only reason we put a question mark by this lock is that though Roth is an indisputable legend, Oscar has been kind of stingy with her over the years even skipping her sometimes when the film was firmly in the Best Picture conversation (The Post, Cold Mountain, Midnight Cowboy). She's earned four nominations (Places in the Heart, Talented Mr Ripley, The Hours) and one win (English Patient). That nagging fact aside, they'd be hard pressed to deny her this year. She's 89 years old and still at the top of her game. Plus Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is a Best Picture contender and the costumes are its standout craft element. Other highlights from her career are TV miniseries Angels in America, and Mildred Pierce and unnominated film work like The Day of the Locust, The Birdcage, Klute, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being among many others. In addition to a busy film career she's amassed 11 Tony nominations and a win for her stage work. Does she ever sleep?
probably but you never know...
EMMA Alexandra Byrne
Byrne has earned 5 nominations (Hamlet, Elizabeth, Finding Neverland, Mary Queen of Scots) with 1 win (Elizabeth the Golden Age) and the costumes in this Jane Austen adaptation are some of her finest. Utterly spendid and sometimes surprisng use of color and class throughout.
MANK Trish Summerville
Summerville is a stylish designer (see Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Red Sparrow, Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Velvet Buzzsaw) and it's about time for some industry recognition. Her work on Mank is just the type of thing that's within the Oscar wheelhouse enough to earn her that first nod.
maybe but surely vunerable
NEWS OF THE WORLD Mark Bridges
With 4 nominations and 2 wins (Joker, Inherent Vice, The Artist, Phantom Thread) behind him --not to mention that speedboat prize at the Oscars for "shortest speech" -- he's surely a threat for a fifth nomination for this western drama. The costumes aren't particularly flashy but they wouldn't be with these characters and they have a nicely worn lived in feeling.
AMMONITE Michael O'Connor
All three of Michael O'Connor's previous nominations (The Duchess, The Invisible Woman, Jane Eyre) come from films that were far far outside of the Best Picture conversation. This is a very good sign that he has a solid shot to score a fourth nomination for his beautiful period work on Ammonite. Because his work is character attuned and Kate Winslet's Mary is very unshowy and emotionally reserved, this film is less flashy than his previously nominated efforts. Still, we're predicting him for now. [Our 2014 O'Connor interview]
POTENTIAL SPOILERS
JINGLE JANGLE Michael Wilkinson
I don't necessarily mean this as a knock on the costumes themselves but if Oscar voters are in the mood for "Most Costume Design" this will be a shoo-in. That said broadly theatrical efforts that look more like an eye popping parade of colorful stage costumes than like typical film costumes are hard to predict with Oscar's costume branch. Sometimes they want MOST (Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins Returns) and other times they turn up their noses (Phantom of the Opera, Aladdin). Wilkinson's only previous nomination was for his brilliant sexy work on American Hustle (2013). [Our Wilkinson Interview from 2015]
MULAN Bina Daigeler
Disney's live-action takes on their animated catalogue have often scored in this category (102 Dalmatians, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Maleficent) but the bloom may be off that rose since both Aladdin and Dumbo failed to produce any Oscar nominations in the craft categories. Mulan was a fast fade from cultural discourse but a random lone nomination for something crafty would not be shocking.
PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD Suzie Harman & Robert Worley
Fun fun fun. Almost relentlessly so. But will it split the votes with Emma for those looking for anachronistic period comedies?
UNITED STATES VS BILLIE HOLLIDAY Paolo Nieddu
This is not quite a debut but given that it's only Nieddu's second feature as the lead costumer (after the comedy The Other Woman), it's quite a showy gig with impressive results. Oscar likes biopics about performers but the problem here is that people don't seem to like the movie much. If the film was getting the kind of praise another late release like Judas and the Black Messiah was getting, it'd be a shoo in for costumes. Before this breakout Nieddu was the Assistant costume designer on both Sex and the City movies and an Assisant costume designer on SNL, Ugly Betty, and Smash.
LONG SHOTS
The most loveable longshot is 1000% Nancy Steiner's work on Promising Young Woman. It's clever and instantly iconic. What's more the variations from scene to scene are inspired. Cassie has long since lost her own identity in service of playing the role of avenging angel so the costumes have no apparent throughline and shift considerably from scene to scene depending on what Cassie's agenda is. Steiner's work will definitely be on my own ballot but Oscar voters habitually have a hard time acknowledging the worth of contemporary / non sci-fi costumes, only going there once or twice per decade. The most recent examples were I Am Love (2010) and La La Land (2016). We'll cross our fingers but we're not expecting it.
If the costuming branch hasn't been watching very many screeners, they're likely to default to Best Picture hopefuls (they're unpredictable in this way, sometimes going far afield and other times just picking the 5 most high profile Best Picture candidates that happen to be period films so you other longshots definitely include Charles Antoniette Jones work on Judas and the Black Messiah, Francine Jamison-Tanchuck for One Night in Miami and Susan Lyall for The Trial of the Chicago 7... even though the costumes of each haven't really sparked their own conversations in the way the flashier costume work for non-Best Picture contenders like, say, Emma or Mulan has.
Beyond films that are in the discussion, we must also consider Sandy Powell for The Glorias and Consolata Boyle for Raodiactive. It's true they have non-existent buzz this year but their previous nominee status (or outright favourite designer status in the case of Powell) might give them a miraculous boost. We'd like to think voters look at everything (though they probably don't) so we hope they also look at April Napier's designs for First Cow.
Reader Comments (16)
David Copperfield ftw. Love it. Eye-popping, creative, colorful but never annoying. Just like the movie as a whole.
Ma Rainey
Mank
Emma
Ammonite
Billie Holliday
I want PYW to be the fifth nominee though but it is unlikely.
Ann Roth is going to win for Ma Rainey's yellow dress and I'll be damn happy about it.
It's a travesty that she has only won once.
I hope the only win for Ma Rainey will be for Ann Roth's stand-out work.
I find it curious when people describe EMMA and THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD as anachronistic. Costume-wise, they're anything but.
In fact, part of the magic in their design approach is how the costumes embrace the idiosyncrasies of period fashion, some of those weird details and off-putting silhouettes that get left off by most period dramas. As a rule, filmmakers tend to sand off the hard edges of the past, even at the level of clothing. These two films embrace the accurate look and delve into its specificities as a way to further support an off-kilter tone. Regency and early Victorian attire could be bizarre and celebrating that very strangeness is a perfect, if surprising, strategy for this pair of literary adaptations.
Personally, I'm rooting for an EMMA victory and I say that as someone who's never been that much into the work of Alexandra Byrne.
I think Mulan will make it in in the end, it most certainly won't win, but the film is too big and too hype a project to not get a nom.
So love for First Cow would be a nice treat!
If The Glorias isn’t nominated for best costume design it will be a first for a Julie Taylor-directed theatrically release narrative film. Titus, Frida, Across the Universe and the Tempest were all so honoured.
*Taymor
Surprise nominee:
BARB AND STAR
Prediction
Ammonite
Emma
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
News of the World
The Personal History of David Copperfield
Alt. Mank, The Glorias
Jingle Jangle looks exactly the imaginative costume design that wins. If they see the film, of course.
I think the same “miraculous boost” could be happen with Anna B. Sheppard for “Eurovision”.
Animated films aren't eligible right? If they are though then OVER THE MOON should at least be mentioned as a very far-out possibility.
Ryan -- i dont think there's been any ruling on whether or not they're eligible but I think it would only happen if some Oscar favourite designer designed something that was career best on a stop motion film because then it's actual costumes rather than computer generated.
Thanks Nathaniel. I remember some talks about the year of FANTASTIC MR. FOX. That would've been a great nominee.