FYC: "The Green Knight" for Best Costume Design

by Cláudio Alves

While we're at the dawn of a new year, the 2021 awards season is far from over. Academy Award nominations are still a month away, so there's plenty of time to champion one's cinematic favorites before hope withers away on Oscar morning. To start 2022 off on the right foot, let's investigate our predilect craft category – Best Costume Design. There are plenty of glamorous contenders, but the one I'm most rooting to see nominated chooses a more understated path to greatness. Costume designer Malgosia Turzanska outfitted David Lowery's adaptation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in simple designs rich in visceral textures, colors shining through the shadowy cinematography, ancient symbolism, and more…

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Farewell, Emi Wada (1937-2021)

by Cláudio Alves

In 1986, at the 58th Academy Awards, Best Costume Design was the fourth category to be presented. The honor befell on Audrey Hepburn, who received a standing ovation upon her appearance. The shortlisted artists made up a prestigious lineup that included Oscar winners from years past, like Albert Wolsky and Milena Canonero. Considering Out of Africa's dominance over the night, one might have supposed its period fashions had the win in the bag. However, the Academy's long love affair with Japanese costuming bore fruit for a second time. Akira Kurosawa's last great epic, Ran, won its first and only Oscar, a merited recognition of Emi Wada's efforts. The designer had spent three years creating the thousands of pieces required by the bellicose narrative, using historically accurate techniques and custom textiles to produce a painterly masterpiece of color, motion, and striking silhouettes. 

As we remember Wada's much-deserved triumph, we do so in mourning. Her family announced that the 84-year-old costume designer died earlier this month, leaving behind a legendary career in Asian film, theater, and TV…

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What films are we underestimating for tech nominations?

By Ben Miller

With the film year winding down, the higher-profile films are packing the predictions of Oscar pundits everywhere.  As easy as it is to predict Dune and Nightmare Alley to have plenty of technical nominations, what films are we underestimating?

For the last 18 years, at least one film has received a single Oscar nomination in a below-the-line category.  While it is not unusual for a film to receive a single nomination in Best Original Song, Original Score or Cinematography but these are the categories awards pundits and the Oscars themselves don't tend to pay as much attention to...

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Horror Costuming: Black Swan (2010)

by Cláudio Alves

Unintentionally, this year's Horror Costuming miniseries has featured a lot of designers' partnerships. In both Hellraiser and The Cell, we explored how one person created a fantasy world while another cared for the mundane existence and its subtler evils. Those films showed how exemplary collaboration could produce unforgettable movie wardrobes. Now, with Black Swan, we arrive at a more disharmonious sort of alliance, one that fell apart after the fact, as the media celebrated some designers' work while ignoring the other, and the awards bodies did the reverse. It's a pity how much the controversy came to dominate conversations on the film's costumes. But, beyond the acrimony and scandal, Black Swan is a superbly designed horror movie whose costumes deserve analysis, applause, awards too…

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Emmy Analysis: Netflix dominates the Outstanding Period Costumes race

by Cláudio Alves

All five Outstanding Period Costumes Emmy nominees come from a Netflix, a strong indicator of that streaming titan's dominance over the kind of lavish prestige television that tends to the well in this category. Indeed, this well-appointed quintet is united by a glitzy love of glamour. Realism, or indeed historical verisimilitude, feels as if it's only ever pursued if it coincides with these shows' need for contrast and spectacle. Sometimes this feels at home with the material. In other instances, it comes off a bit forced, opulence for opulence's sake and to the detriment of the dramaturgy. Their wardrobes demand attention, catching the eye of even the most casual of viewers. Whatever the case may be, these are some eye-catching programs, so much so that it's difficult to predict who'll win. All five contenders feel like potential victors. The nominees are… 

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