by Nathaniel R
Shirley Kurata's costumes for "Jobu Tupaki" in EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE are great chaotic fun
Let's tackle each Oscar category while there's still wiggle room for all contenders! Last season Best Costume Design was sewn up (sorry!) unusually early in the year when Jenny Beavan's garbage dress unfurled midway through Cruella (2021) in the summer movie season. From then on it was everyone versus Cruella and Beavan came out on top for the third time in her delicious career. The costumes of 2022 haven't really had one showstopping gown to end everyone else's Oscar dreams so it's anyone's guess at this point.
Let's discuss 8 films we think are major threats for those 5 nomination slots and why. It seems natural to start with two films where fashion is a co-lead of sorts...
CONTENDERS THAT SCREAM "COSTUME DESIGN!"
MRS HARRIS GOES TO PARIS
Memorable Jenny Beavan is again tasked with coming up with a narrative showstopper for a fashion-industry set fable released in the summer movie season just one year Cruella (which led to her third Oscar win). The difference this time is that the gowns are not spiritually her own but recreations of vintage Dior couture. She still does a brilliant job so she has to be seen as a threat to the lineup again. Could she win a fourth time? Sure... if she's nominated. The nomination might be the more difficult battle this year given that the film is not a blockbuster and is probably not competitive outside of this category.
CORSAGE
Oscar voters might not be aware of Austrian designer Monika Buttinger yet. It usually takes a very specific film to wake them up to overseas talent. But with Austria's Oscar submission, a heavily fictionalized anachronistically charged biopic of Empress Sissi, Buttinger has a jaw-dropping showcase for her gifts. It's one head-turning look after another for Vicky Krieps as the problematic over-it royal. If enough voters watch this Buttinger could definitely be nominated.
"MOST" COSTUME DESIGN - MAJOR SHOWCASES!
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
If the much-loved Ruth E Carter were merely reprising those Wakandan battle costumes we'd assume a nomination would be a struggle but this time she has a whole new kingdom to design for via Namor's (Tenoch Huerta's) watery realm. Only three sequels have ever won Best Costume Design (Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Mad Max Fury Road) but they were all in the last 20 years so it's definitely possible. It's worth noting that in all three of those cases the previous films had not won or had not been nominated in this category. So awards strategists will have to find a way to convince voters that Carter needs a second Oscar for this franchise.
ELVIS
Pick a scene -- any scene -- and you'll find a delicious memorable costume on Austin Butler's rock god and usually also a smart look on a co-star and even great stuff on the extras. Baz Luhrmann's dizzying biopic is just luscious in the visuals throughout (as all of his films are). Catherine Martin, Baz Luhrmann's wife and collaborator, is a two time winner in this category for The Great Gatsby (2013) and Moulin Rouge! (2001). Here's a weird/fun stat about those wins: Previous movies with those titles (though only one of the two was a remake) had already won the same category! We want to consider her nomination locked up but Elvis did debut in the summer and Oscar voters are sometimes very obtuse about / neglectful of summer hits. She seems likely for one of the five spots.
BABYLON
At this writing Babylon is still not screening so we are just guessing but from the looks of stills and the trailer this is three time nominee Mary Zophre's (Ballad of Buster Scruggs, La La Land, True Grit) most gargantuan assignment yet. It's not her first time at the rodeo of "Old Hollywood" given her fun work on the Coen Bros' Hail, Caesar! but it looks to be her biggest opportunity to wow and maybe her best chance to win yet, if nominated.
TWO MORE LEGENDARY DESIGNERS
AMSTERDAM
This 1930s set comedy/adventure/mystery/whatsit received harsh reviews and little box office so it might now be a longshot for any Oscar honors (despite their love for David O. Russell's filmography in general). On the other hand, the costumes are from a period they enjoy and they are designed by the 91 year old costume legend Albert Wolsky who has 7 previous nominations and 2 wins under his belt. His wins were a long time ago (All That Jazz, Bugsy) but he does rich work. If there's a surprise costume nomination this year, we think it might come right here.
LIVING
The world's greatest living costume designer 15 time nominee Sandy Powell has already won 3 Oscars (Shakespeare in Love, The Aviator, Young Victoria) and was hilariously over it by her third. But if anyone's career deserves more than three, isn't it hers? She hasn't ever won, for example, for her utter brilliance within the context of more outrageous auteur-driven cinema (like her masterful work on Velvet Goldmine, The Favourite, and Orlando) The costumes in this 1950s set film about a stuffy bureaucrat are largely beautifully tailored suits but Powell's work is impeccable as ever and she has already proven that she doesn't need interesting gowns to get nominated (see the menswear heavy nominations for The Irishman and Gangs of New York). Still there is one key female character in Living as well as a detour into the more disreputable entertainments available in 1950s London to provide variations in the looks.
MAJOR BEST PICTURE THREAT WITH PERIOD COSTUMING
THE FABELMANS
Mark Bridges has had a great run with Oscar voters in the past dozen years racking up four nominations (Inherent Vice, Joker) and two wins (The Artist, Phantom Thread). Can he extend that run with Spielberg's late 1950s through early 1960s memoir about his adolescence? There are plentiful fine period costumes, the most showcased being Michelle Williams nightgown in a key camping sequence.
Which of those 8 films do you think should feel secure?
The Woman King
A handful of other period film possibilities
Lisi Christl for All Quiet on the Western Front (set in the 1910s)
Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh for The Banshees of Inisherin (set in the 1920s)
Linda Muir for The Northman (set in the early 900s)
Gersha Phillips for The Woman King (set in the early 1800s)
Marci Rodgers for Till (set in the 1960s)
Ann Roth for White Noise (set in the 1980s)
Triangle of Sadness
Five contemporary-set films worth considering (alas this branch rarely considers contemporary work so these designers might have to make do with CDG Contemporary nods)...
Jacqueline Durran, Glyn Dillon, and David Crossman for The Batman
Shirley Kurata for Everything Everywhere All At Once
Jenny Eagan for Glass Onion
Bina Daigeler for TÁR
Sofie Krunegard for Triangle of Sadness