THE COSTUME DESIGN CONTENDERS

The nominees for Best Achievement in Costume Design for the Academy Awards display a wide range of costumes, designed by several veteran costume designers and previous Academy Award winners. If anything, the nominees show that vital and creative costume design is still being done in the early 21st century. The process, however, is as challenging as ever - with very short deadlines and tight budgets a common reality for the designers. This when costumes for this year's nominees had to be designed for scenes of the upper class in Italy, for royalty in England, and situated in a desolate island, the western wilderness, and down the rabbit's hole.




Tilda Swinton in "I Am Love."

Antonella Cannorozzi designed the costumes for I Am Love, starring Tilda Swinton in a story of a rich family in Milan and the love affair of its unfulfilled mother. The wardrobe was contemporary and displayed the chic and stylish clothing expected of the Milanese haute bourgeoisie. Cannorozzi worked with the houses of Fendi for the fabrication of the men's clothing and Jil Sander for Tilda Swinton's. As is the role for all costume designers, the wardobe had to help portray character, further the plot, and help develop the setting.



 


The King's Speech

Jenny Beavan designed the costumes for Helena Bonham Carter, Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and the other principal cast in The King's Speech. The costumes had to capture the 1930s in England. It also had to portray the class and distinction of the Royal Family, principally  Albert, who became King George VI,and his wife Elizabeth, the future Queen. As with several of the other films, time and budget were challenges. Ms. Beavan was assisted by the English costume house, Cosprop, for supplying vintage 1930s clothing for many of the cast members.

Ms. Beavan has been nominated several times for a costume design Oscar, and won for Room with a View.



  



Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit."

Mary Zophres designed the western wear of True Grit. The demands of the story made for a limited wardrobe, but one that needed to develop the character and plot, and to show the wear from life on horseback out in the wilderness. Ms. Zophres used fall coloration that was typical of the time period and the type of clothing then worn. Haillee Steinfeld only had two costume changes, but her true grit character was clearly shown when she wore her dead father's coat, whose murder she sets out to avenge. One very striking costume was the real bearskin, complete with bear's head, that the 6'5" Ed Lee Corbin wears in the movie. Ms. Zophres' tailor had to sew several bearskins together to fit the actor.

               





                                 

                                             
                                 Felicity Jones plays Miranda in "The Tempest."

  

Academy Award winning designer Sandy Powell also had to cope with a tight budget and little time to design The Tempest, based on the Shakespeare play. Helen Mirren starred as "Prospera" along with Felicity Jones, the young English beauty who played her daughter. The most stunning costume in the film , and the most difficult to make, was Prospera's magic cloak. In the script it was described as being made of "shards of glass and light." Ms. Powell experimented with several alternatives and ended up using 3000 jagged-edged and crystal shaped pieces of plastic. Each of the pieces were individually painted and sewn onto cloak pattern pieces made of net and then assembled together. The completed cloak was very heavy and a challenge for Helen Mirren to wear while holding up her staff and whipping up a tempest.



Helen Mirren in "The Tempest."




Alice in Wonderland

Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen


And then there's Alice in Wonderland. Challenges abounded in designing costumes for the classic Lewis Carrol fantasy. Academy Award winning designer Colleen Atwood had strong visual traditions to compete with in designing fresh and vivid interpretations of the characters' costumes. One of the most difficult challenges was designing for scale and continuity in the costumes for Alice as she ranges in size from 2 feet to 9 feet tall. What had been Alice's normal slip became the "dress" she is nearly bursting out of after she becomes gigantic. Mia Wasikowska played Alice. Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen also had striking and very creative costumes, and Anne Hathaway played the White Queen in the Tim Burton film.


One would have expected The Black Swan, designed by Amy Westcott, to be nominated for a Best Costume Oscar. But a controversy arose over the Mulleavy sisters of Rodarte not getting a design credit for the film. Under the Academy rules for costume design, they did not qualify. No doubt fearing a controversy, the Academy's costume design nominators avoided a nomination for Amy Westcott. As the film's costume designer she oversaw the total costume design process and designed the regular wardrobe. The black and white swan ballet costumes were designed in a collaboration, Ms. Westcott stated.


Alice in Wonderland will no doubt be caught up in the issue of whether CGI had a role in defining the look of the costumes in the film. That would be a shame, since the costumes are wonderful and show tremendous creativity. There should be no doubt that the costumes designed and fabricated for the principal actors were very real and not created by computer.

Period costumes have almost always won the Academy Awards for Best Costume over the last twenty years. With the momentum behind The King's Speech, it will probably carry that award too.

   Let's give them all a big hand of applause.


P.S. If you have the opportunity, over 100 costumes from most of the Oscar contenders are on display through April 30th at the FIDM Museum in downtown Los Angeles. Go to FIDMmuseum.org for more details.