... okay, now on to the nominees.
I was real close to putting Anonymous in my predictions by mere virtue of its time period. I should have just gone for it. The costume branch has rarely been able to resist 15th century European ruffles and puffed sleeves, and Lisy Christl provides them in ample supply for this Shakespearean drama. Looking down the list of nominees, this one is the most typical winner. So much so that I'm actually compelled to predict it for the win, but it's a question of how many voters have seen it. It's also competing with a pair of Best Picture titans, but as last year's outcome made pointedly clear, that may not count for much.
The Artist brings the perennially snubbed Mark Bridges his first career Oscar nomination (yay!). Without the aid of colour, Bridges instead made clever use of texture and shading to articulate the characters' glamourous 1920s wardrobe. While support for the film is strong, the fact that the film is black and white is a big hindrance. Not even Schindler's List could make good on its Costume Design nomination back in 1994. Flashiness rules the day, and beautiful though the costumes may be, black and white, by very definition, is not flashy.
Enjoying her tenth career nomination, and third in as many years, Sandy Powell is seriously in the hunt to collect a fourth Oscar. Her threads for Hugo are visually flavourful and character specific. Given that she benefits both from having eye-catching costumes and an adored Best Picture vehicle, she might be able to fend off the opulent finery of Anonymous. She's certainly more deserving, although I'd hate to hear her give another smug acceptance speech like that which she gave for her less deserved win two years ago for The Young Victoria.
Michael O'Connor is another winner in recent memory who benefited from working with grandiose royal gowns and corsets (The Duchess). He's back for equally ornate period detail in Jane Eyre, but the designs are more dour and grey in keeping with the film's tone. The textures are wonderful and the colours effectively desaturated in order to reflect the drizzly environs of the English countryside. There's a very outside possibility that he could win, but I suspect the work may ultimately be too drab (I mean that in a good way) to win the votership's attention.
Finally, the critical derision aimed at Madonna's inauspicious directorial debut W.E. obviously wasn't enough to keep it off the list, but such is often the case in this category; I can't remember a year in which at least one of the Best Costume Design nominees wasn't unanimously panned. By that logic, I should have seen this nomination coming (I had it as my alternate). Ariane Phillips, Madonna's personal stylist and concert costumer, should be content with the nomination here. I don't imagine enough people have seen the film for her fashionable 1940s eye-candy to pull out a win.
Will win: Anonymous
Runner-up: Hugo
Should win: The Artist
Should've been nominated: Captain America
