April Foolish Predictions #6: Costume Design
Tuesday, April 9, 2019 at 9:39AM Our annual April Foolish Oscar Predictions continue
Can "Aladdin" repeat "Beauty & The Beast"'s success in Costume Design? And can we ever forgive Michael Wilkinson for making Aladdin wear a shirt for the whole movie?
The last few years of the Costume Design category have been very Powell/Atwood heavy as Oscar's two design queens have either won again (Atwood in 2016) or been double-nominated twice-over (Powell in 2015 and 2018) but it looks like we'll be taking a wee break from those much honored artists this year. Will there be any room room for first-time nominees (Paul Tazewell, Mayes C Rubeo, Julian Day, Daniel Orlandi?) or will we get mostly costuming regulars who could continue to march to Atwood and Powell-like status (Jacqueline Durran, Albert Wolsky, Consolata Boyle, Alexandra Byrne?)
Here's the chart (and the prediction index if you haven't been playing along). But after the jump some images to whet your appetite for the year in costuming to come...
The Aeronauts... costumes by Alexandra Byrne
Little Women ... costumes by Oscar favourite Jacqueline Durran
JoJo Rabbit ... costumes by Mayes C Rubeo, who is very underrated. She worked with Taika on Thor: Ragnarok, too
Dolemite Is My Name... Ruth E Carter hot off her Oscar in for Black Panther (but it's a Netflix title and they have so many this year... which will they give a theatrical push to?
Can Arianne Phillips break the curse that no Tarantino picture has ever been nominated for Costume Design?
Julian Day has yet to be nominated despite fine work in the past. Can those mad Elton John costumes do the trick in Rocketman?
Pain & Glory ... costumes by Paolo Torres, graduating to lead costuming after working as an assistant or supervisor on Volver and Bad Education
Personal History of David Copperfield ... costumes by Cristina Casali and probably 100 milliners!
We make this same face when we think about revisiting Downton Abbey on the big screen... costumes by Anna Mary Scott Robbins
Emma Fryer's costumes for The Hustle look really fun... sadly Oscar almost never notices contemporary work. 
The Goldfinch... costumes by Kasia Walicka Maimone
And already screened and costumes enjoyed very much thank you...
Missing Link... costumes by Deborah Cook who works wonders in miniature (INTERVIEW COMING SOON)
Us... costumes by the inspired Kym Barrett
Reader Comments (8)
I'm rooting for Greta to have a major success all-around with Little Women this year, but those Dolemite Is My Name costumes are fabulous. It's a pity that Netflix probably won't campaign all of its films this fall.
I love Jacqueline Durran's work but my eye keeps going to those pictures of "Rocketman" and "Dolemite is my Name". <Big Sigh>
The Seventies really were eye catching in so many ways. I think Julian Day is a definite nomination. As for the rest, I really have no idea.
Ad Astra appearing in a lot of Tier 2 line-ups, I see.
Has anyone actually seen anything from it - 6 weeks ahead of release?
Pain & Glory isn't being nominated for Costume, rest assured. If it did, we're talking about an impact bigger than Roma's.
Main difference between Roma and Pain & Glory, is, that what Cuarón did with cinematography and showy shots, Almodovar does it subtlely, through dialogue and the performances of his cast. Pain & Glory > Roma, in my book. But both are masterpieces.
BJT -- it's clearly going to get pushed back (the visual fx aren't done is the rumor of why it's not going to Cannes.
I wonder if Star Wars Episode IX might have a chance at a Costume Design nomination. The costumes in the Star Wars films have been consistently top-quality (even in the prequel trilogy) and yet, since the win for the first film in 1977, none of the series has been nominated.
Thanks Nat,
I've been a fan of Grey's since The Yards and am always hopeful about his work, but was really concerned that the lack of publicity was due to a lack of confidence in the product (won't be the first time his film ahs been shafted by the release strategy). Here's hoping they make a confident announcement about the dates that calms my jitters soon.
Nat: That's...I mean, the movie entered production 20 months ago. That's DC Movie Post Production territory. Either the VFX work on this is being done for free (meaning VFX driven blockbusters are taking precedent over the VFX on this), the VFX work is ballooning the budget in post or the movie is a dud that Disney doesn't want people to see. I'd say option 2 is likeliest (If Ad Astra's budget gets pushed up to $120-150 million, I won't be surprised), but all of these sound plausible.