I think all of the nominees have a shot, even Mrs. Harris because it is doing the Phantom Thread (and Cruella, which Jenny Bean won for last year) thing of making the costumes integral to the plot of the film. I agree that Babylon is being slept on here as well, where unpopularity doesn't seem to matter nearly as much, and where movies with very few nominations can beat out films much more integral to the main race. I'm a bit stuck here too. Elvis could win somewhere between 0 and 6 awards and it wouldn't surprise me. It could do a mini-tech sweep and pull this in, but these aren't the costumes that always win; they aren't a "take" on the costumes of Elvis Presley and his times in the way that, say The Great Gatsby's were of the Jazz Age. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever probably feels like a retread of the first film, even though that's not the most fair to look at it. (This is what I think could hurt Avatar: The Way of Water in Production Design as well.) Everything... probably seems a little too modern and too simple, but this could be the sign of a sweep.
So I'm not sure. I'm leaning towards [I}Babylon[/I] but nothing would really surprise me.
Categories One-by-One: Costume Design
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anonymous1980
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Re: Categories One-by-One: Costume Design
I actually listened to an interview with Babylon costume designer Mary Zophres in a podcast and the anachronistic look is definitely deliberate but they made sure it had historical basis. They looked at photos from the 1920’s that actually didn’t feel like they belong in the 1920’s or how we think 1920’s fashion looked like and based some of the designs on those.Sabin wrote:The issue with a Babylon victory for me is how odd the costuming choices actually are. While they're not technically anachronistic, at times they feel anachronistic (like Margot Robbie's overalls) making the film not always feel like its taking place in the past. Similarly to the editing category, Best Costume Design = Most Costume Design. Babylon is only somewhat extravagant. If everyone dressed like Jean Smart in the film, this category would be wrapped up. But they don't.
This is one of those years where I'd give anything to see the vote totals in every category.
Re: Categories One-by-One: Costume Design
Well, I was someone who was willing to concede both this award and Production Design to Babylon sight unseen. Until it was seen. Working in Babylon's favor is the fact that they always give this award to a movie like Babylon. The only film I can think of like Babylon that missed out ironically was La La Land. The issue with a Babylon victory for me is how odd the costuming choices actually are. While they're not technically anachronistic, at times they feel anachronistic (like Margot Robbie's overalls) making the film not always feel like its taking place in the past. Similarly to the editing category, Best Costume Design = Most Costume Design. Babylon is only somewhat extravagant. If everyone dressed like Jean Smart in the film, this category would be wrapped up. But they don't.Mister Tee wrote
As noted elsewhere, I've found this Oscar season one of the most hearteningly difficult to handicap. But mixed in has been a greater degree of bafflement at the general discussion out in the blogosphere than I can ever remember. To wit: I see people everywhere picking Babylon, the infamous flop, to win production design and score...but nary a soul suggesting it might win costumes. Which, to me, is amazing, because 1) it's loaded end-to-end with dazzling period costumes and 2) costumes is the rare Oscar category where being in a disliked/seen-as-flop film is no handicap. Those two mid-aughts efforts I just cited were definitely in the flop zone; Age of Innocence was a movie a lot of people disliked; I can go back to Cromwell or Camelot, Fellini's Casanova or Restoration. This is the one category where people seem to say, Screw the movie -- how were the gowns? I think Babylon almost has to be considered a live possibility. And it floors me that people ready to concede other categories to Chazelle's film don't seem to even consider this one.
This is one of those years where I'd give anything to see the vote totals in every category.
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Mister Tee
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Categories One-by-One: Costume Design
The nominees
Babylon
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
Our last below-the-line discussion. I've been putting it off because I (unlike many) find it really pretty confusing.
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris seems it'd be least likely to win, by virtue of its low profile/sole nomination. But even it isn't a quick brush-off, as its period Paris fashions are essentially a character in the film. There are years it might even have been in play for the victory.
Everything Everywhere... strikes me as a long shot, simply because so much of its costuming is workaday, not the general Oscar voter taste. But there are all those costumes Stephanie Hsu keeps showing up in, which are wildly over-the-top and eye-catching. I remember, back to 1994, when most of us were going with Little Women, and were blindsided by Priscilla, Queen of the Desert winning. Priscilla also mostly had unremarkable costumes...except for those onstage ensembles, which were so attention-grabbing, they won. If Everything Everywhere should score the unexpected win, I think it'll be in that same vein.
Wakanda Forever certainly grabs eyeballs with its bold designs; I'd argue it's, all tolled, more impressive than the first film's. But, there's the rub: Ruth Carter has already won an Oscar for Wakanda costumes, and is the Academy prepared to give it a second helping? I definitely don't rule it out.
Elvis won BAFTA, and just won the costume design guild (I haven't the patience to look it up, but hasn't the CDG been rather erratic in terms of Oscar correlation?), so lots of people are piling on the bandwagon. I just really didn't respond to the film as any kind of visual feast, most especially in the costume department. I remember, years ago, my wife, when we first watched Marie Antoinette and Elizabeth: the Golden Age (late, on home video), calling out Hello! -- costumes! I can't imagine anyone doing that for any of the outfits in Elvis; a few onstage Elvis costumes are honestly all I can recall at all. So, I'm hesitant to join the parade.
As noted elsewhere, I've found this Oscar season one of the most hearteningly difficult to handicap. But mixed in has been a greater degree of bafflement at the general discussion out in the blogosphere than I can ever remember. To wit: I see people everywhere picking Babylon, the infamous flop, to win production design and score...but nary a soul suggesting it might win costumes. Which, to me, is amazing, because 1) it's loaded end-to-end with dazzling period costumes and 2) costumes is the rare Oscar category where being in a disliked/seen-as-flop film is no handicap. Those two mid-aughts efforts I just cited were definitely in the flop zone; Age of Innocence was a movie a lot of people disliked; I can go back to Cromwell or Camelot, Fellini's Casanova or Restoration. This is the one category where people seem to say, Screw the movie -- how were the gowns? I think Babylon almost has to be considered a live possibility. And it floors me that people ready to concede other categories to Chazelle's film don't seem to even consider this one.
Babylon
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
Our last below-the-line discussion. I've been putting it off because I (unlike many) find it really pretty confusing.
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris seems it'd be least likely to win, by virtue of its low profile/sole nomination. But even it isn't a quick brush-off, as its period Paris fashions are essentially a character in the film. There are years it might even have been in play for the victory.
Everything Everywhere... strikes me as a long shot, simply because so much of its costuming is workaday, not the general Oscar voter taste. But there are all those costumes Stephanie Hsu keeps showing up in, which are wildly over-the-top and eye-catching. I remember, back to 1994, when most of us were going with Little Women, and were blindsided by Priscilla, Queen of the Desert winning. Priscilla also mostly had unremarkable costumes...except for those onstage ensembles, which were so attention-grabbing, they won. If Everything Everywhere should score the unexpected win, I think it'll be in that same vein.
Wakanda Forever certainly grabs eyeballs with its bold designs; I'd argue it's, all tolled, more impressive than the first film's. But, there's the rub: Ruth Carter has already won an Oscar for Wakanda costumes, and is the Academy prepared to give it a second helping? I definitely don't rule it out.
Elvis won BAFTA, and just won the costume design guild (I haven't the patience to look it up, but hasn't the CDG been rather erratic in terms of Oscar correlation?), so lots of people are piling on the bandwagon. I just really didn't respond to the film as any kind of visual feast, most especially in the costume department. I remember, years ago, my wife, when we first watched Marie Antoinette and Elizabeth: the Golden Age (late, on home video), calling out Hello! -- costumes! I can't imagine anyone doing that for any of the outfits in Elvis; a few onstage Elvis costumes are honestly all I can recall at all. So, I'm hesitant to join the parade.
As noted elsewhere, I've found this Oscar season one of the most hearteningly difficult to handicap. But mixed in has been a greater degree of bafflement at the general discussion out in the blogosphere than I can ever remember. To wit: I see people everywhere picking Babylon, the infamous flop, to win production design and score...but nary a soul suggesting it might win costumes. Which, to me, is amazing, because 1) it's loaded end-to-end with dazzling period costumes and 2) costumes is the rare Oscar category where being in a disliked/seen-as-flop film is no handicap. Those two mid-aughts efforts I just cited were definitely in the flop zone; Age of Innocence was a movie a lot of people disliked; I can go back to Cromwell or Camelot, Fellini's Casanova or Restoration. This is the one category where people seem to say, Screw the movie -- how were the gowns? I think Babylon almost has to be considered a live possibility. And it floors me that people ready to concede other categories to Chazelle's film don't seem to even consider this one.