As
it is in Best Production Design, having the most noticeable design
elements is an essential factor to winning Best Costume Design, which
is why suspect the likely winner of Best Production Design is also
primed to win here too. These two categories do often go hand in
hand. Splits between two films nominated in both categories (like the
one we saw last year) don't happen as often as one film winning both.
The design showcase I expect to pull off the double-win this year is Anna Karenina, and it would be a merited victory. Jacqueline Durran's period-mashing costumes are the best of the year, in my opinion, and they're fetching enough to sate the Academy's appetite for eye candy in this category. Many expected Durran to win five years ago for “that” green dress from Atonement, but there's no frilly royalty porn to rob her this year.
Her
main competition comes in the form of two Best Picture nominees also
up for both Design Oscars. After working on Steven Spielberg's movies
for years, Joanna Johnston finally managed her first career
nomination for Lincoln,
and it's a well deserved one. The meticulously researched threads are
inconspicuous but give every character a visual signature. She would
make a worthy winner, but I wonder if the costumes' subtlety won't
hinder her in the race.
The
second Best Picture nominee has more eccentric wardrobe. Paco
Delgado's stage inspired vestments for Les Miserables
use lots of colour to help its characters stand out, but with the
actors being shot so often from the neck up, it's also easy to
overlook the clothes they're wearing. I still think it's a solid
threat for the win, but I'm not moving my chips from Anna
Karenina for it.
The
final two nominees are nifty bookends in that they represent this
year's two Snow White
reincarnations. I guess fairytale revisionism is in vogue. Watch out
for 2014 Oscar nominees Jack the Giant Slayer
and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters!
The
late, great Eiko Ishioka earned only her second nomination
posthumously for the daffy and dizzying outfits in her swan song
Mirror Mirror. If I
were predicting what would win simply on what has the “most”
costume design, then Ishioka's unabashedly self-aware contribution to
her film takes the cake, but it's not that simple. People need to
have seen the film. Only one film in the last 17 years has won this
category on its sole nomination (Marie Antoinette
in 2007).
While
one Snow White film thrives on loopiness, the other is a dark and
grimy affair. The death motifs of Colleen Atwood's grunge-inspired
apparel in Snow White and the Huntsman
is effective, and fits perfectly with the film's aesthetic approach.
But again, I doubt many saw or liked this film, and when given the
choice, they'll vote for the prettier costumes every time.
Will
win: Anna Karenina
Runner-up:
Les Miserables
Should
win: Anna Karenina
Should
have been nominated: Moonrise Kingdom
