Beauty Break: April Foolish Costume Design Predictions
Thursday, April 26, 2018 at 10:30AM by Nathaniel R
Fantastic Beasts won Colleen Atwood her 4th Oscar. Will its sequel give her her 13th nomination?
The original Mary Poppins lost the Costume Design competition. Could Sandy Powell win it for the sequel?
Even if the year's Costume Design prospects weren't so tantalizing we'd be salivating because we love the artform. After a relatively weak previous season, this category has the opportunity to come roaring back for 2018 in a big way. Consider that all four of the Academy's favorite working costume designers (with 43 nominations and 13 wins between them) might be back this year...
Do more punk! Sandy works her magic with How to Talk to Girls at Parties
OSCAR'S BELOVED FOUR
Sandy Powell (Mary Poppins Returns, The Favourite, How to Talk to Girls at Parties)
She's managed double nominations twice before. Could she perform the trick in a third year? And when will we get our first photo of the royal court in The Favourite? That seems like a great opportunity to show off.
Newt Salamander only gets one costume ever but Powell has new characters to explore in Fantastic Beasts Crimes of Grindelwald
Colleen Atwood (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald)
Was the Oscar for the first film in the Harry Potter spinoff franchise enough?
Jenny Beavan (The Nutcracker and the Four Realms)
The Mad Max Fury Road designer is back. And who knows. This project might also qualify under Most Costumes.
[alas no photo available yet]
Milena Canonero (The Sisters Brothers)
She works less frequently than Atwood, Beaven, or Powell but there's no denying her towering genius in this field given that filmography (not to mention the four Oscar wins)
Sadly many of the most exciting prospects in the category, like Canonero's return, haven't revealed even a sneak peek image yet but but there sure is a lot to look forward to.
THE REST OF THE FIELD
In addition to the category's four superstars noted above there are also the less frequently nominated but still A list costume designers like Jacqueline Durran (Peterloo), Sharen Davis (Alpha), Alexandra Byrne (Mary Queen of Scots), Mary Zophres (First Man), and Ruth E Carter (Black Panther) as possibilities. Finally we're always crossing our fingers for first timer nominations, too. It'd be nice to see more attention given to, say, Julian Day (Bohemian Rhapsody) or Steven Noble (The Little Stranger) some day.
Here are more photos to consider...
A nomination for Ruth E Carter for "Black Panther" would tie her with Octavia and Viola as "most frequently Oscar-nominated black woman"
Sharen Davis is working with a lot of dirt and fur for Alpha (hey it worked for The Revenant's Jacqueline West)
Mary Queen of Scots -- Oscar loves this era in clothing
Ryan Gosling on the set of astronaut drama First Man
Julian Day gets another opportunity to shine with Bohemian Rhapsody.
Vita and Virginia was costume designed by Lorna Marie Mugan whose mostly worked in British TV 
A set photo from If Beale Street Could Talk which takes place in the 1970s. Caroline Eselin did the costumes.
Caroline Koener did the costumes for Mary Shelley
Steven Noble costumed The Little Stranger the new film from the director of Room.
Jacqueline Durran always does grand work for Mike Leigh. "Peterloo" could be epic.
It's a pity they so rarely opt for contemporary film but Sarah Edwards is certainly giving us a lot to look at for Oceans 8.
Keira Knightley as Colette with Andrea Flesch costuming.
Dakota Johnson in Guilia Persanti costume on the set of the Suspiria remake
HERE ARE ALL THE VISUAL CATEGORY OSCAR CHARTS AND THE OVERALL PREDICTION INDEX
Reader Comments (23)
Do you wish the Costume Design category got broken up a little bit kind of how the Guild does its nominations?
Joey -- i dont love the divvying up of period and fantasy (because a lot of times there's overlap)... but i do think the current system makes nomination for contemporary films very difficult.
For a split second, i thought the photo from Mary Queen of Scots was a still for a new Alice in Wonderland movie. And dread ran through my body. Dread!
Probably won't happen, but I'm still going to mention CRAZY RICH ASIANS everywhere just so it's at least in the conversation.
Just imagining Mary, Queen of Scots exhausts me.
Hayden -- Same.
A nomination for Ruth E Carter for "Black Panther" would tie her with Octavia and Viola as "most frequently Oscar-nominated black woman"
This is very limiting and you're better off just describing Carter as black costume designer than grouping her with black actresses.
There will be a lot of hype for Black Panther. The only truly worthy nom is for Carter’s imaginative, eye-popping Costume Design.
Anna B. Sheppard has ANOTHER WWII movie in Overlord, that I am anticipating because it's an horror set in Nazi Germany. Have you seen the photos? The Nazi zombies look fun.
I am already anticipating my massive upset about Black Panther getting snubbed in this category, when honestly, it should probably win.
This category is always fun, because of the wonderfully contrary minded people who nominate. They prefer excellent examples of their craft, and don't care so much if the movie isn't popular, prestigious, or critically well-reviewed. I wish more categories were like that.
How about Keri Langerman for Vox Lux? I know she's not a big name, but she'll probably draw some acclaim (or at least attention) for costuming Natalie Portman as a pop-rock star.
Dancin' Dan: Its arguable whether any superhero film would (fully) deserve a BP nomination. The closest for Picture would probably be The Dark Knight, closely followed by Black Panther. But you'd think this is a genre that would at least CLEAN UP at Costume Design and it...doesn't. Even phenomenally designed ones that have more conventional additional hooks for easy traction like Batman 1989, Batman Returns, Watchmen and Captain America: The First Avenger have missed, so I'm not REALLY holding out hope for Black Panther.
Having called Mary, Queen of Scots prematurely "exhausting," I still wouldn't bet against it in this category.
If it disappoints and gets one nomination, it will be costume design.
If it impresses and earns a smattering of nominations, one will be costume design.
I certainly can't see it getting a cinematography nomination without costume design.
It's a strong CD contender even if it bombs.
/3rtful -- i'm not sure why it's limited to say this. can you clarify? It's not much different than saying like "Kevin J O'Connell has the same number of Oscar nominations as Meryl Streep" which I have said in another statistics post because it's true.
it's a cool statistic that Ruth E Carter could tie a record. we're constantly talking about stats and records each season.
Volvagia -- that's a good point but I think it becoming one of the highest grossing films of all time will break down this barrier because it already has the advantage of not working from a ton of pre-existing material (which a lot of superhero sequels are...) since it's a first film in a franchise.
Ryan T -- ha ha. I fully understand that line of thinking as I've done it with other movies.
Hayden -- the sad thing is that if it gets nominated it's likely to win and does Byrne really need two Oscar for costuming the same characters? I've often wondered what the costume design oscar would go to if you just let the costume designers alone vote on their nominees. But it seems like this era always wins if it's nominated. It's like a reflexive thing from the non-costume designers. It's those collars I think ;)
The reason Byrne was chosen to costume this film was the exact reason she shouldn't have been considered. I don't care if you've done a doctoral thesis on Elizabethan dress. I don't care if you know Helen Mirren's measurements by heart. If your work doesn't feel fresh, character-specific and exciting, what's the point? Accuracy is overrated.
Imagine a take on Elizabeth I with *half* the impressionistic whimsy and iconoclasm that Jacqueline Durran, Milena Canonero and Michael O'Connor have brought to period films. That would be worth seeing.
Ruth E. Carter should win this as her work in Black Panther is phenomenal.
I met Margot Robbie recently and she spoke so highly of Alexandra Byrne on Mary and her incredible detail to character with her costume designs. So I wouldn't dismiss her as being totally unoriginal and repetitive. We'll just have to wait and see the costumes.
Jesus Christ, I had no idea Sandy Powell was costuming The Favourite. When will this movie give other films a chance for my attention?
Sidebar: I need that jacket Tom Sturridge is wearing.
I would love a HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES nomination. The latex alien suits are even grander creations than Kidman's LABYRINTH inspired get up and her punk minions.
I heard a fabulous interview on BBC about Mary Queen of Scots, I too would not count this one out.
Personally I hope Black Panther gets a nomination, and pulls a win, I think the costuming was requisite.
My long shot is "Colette" - Keira Knightley in period costume is confirmed catnip for the academy (and myself). I've never heard of Andrea Flesch, but KK has a way of making movie costumes memorable.