Costume Design

Costume Design
• Milena Canonero for The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Mark Bridges for Inherent Vice
• Colleen Atwood for Into the Woods
• Anna B. Sheppard for Maleficent
• Jacqueline Durran for Mr. Turner

Milena Canonero comes into her nomination with three Oscars already since her introduction to film in A Clockwork Orange. It doesn't feel queer to say that her work on The Grand Budapest Hotel feels inspired by a trio of her previous films: A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. There's a very regimented uniformity amongst the staff of The Grand Budapest Hotel that pulls directly from all three films as well as a very generic style that harkens to her time on The Shining. Here we're treated to outfits with just enough officiousness to merit their standing as well as a healthy dose of the quirkiness than makes a Wes Anderson film engaging. Canonero performs to the requirements of her station admirably.

Is that Willy Wonka? From Punch Drunk Love to Inherent Vice, Mark Bridges might be best known for putting bad suits on bad men. Then again, he also has credits for The Artist and There Will be Blood, so at least we can agree that he does indeed know what a good suit is. On the bright side, it reminds me of precisely why I disliked American Hustle. There is definitely some nice work interspersed throughout here, but it's all so pulpy. That's *totally* fine, but don't spend the majority of your time in some musty old outfit from the suburban thrift store and pretend I'm supposed decorate it.

Colleen Atwood can be forgiven for conspiring with Robert Downey Jr. to start the Men's Rights movement with their film The Pick-Up Artist. Since then, she's been on a tear having been nominated for eleven Oscars and winning three of them. She worked on Snow White and the Huntsman, though I must not have been writing that year as I have no article to show for having watched it. Which is a shame, because it was bad. Then again, so was Into the Woods, though not nearly so much. Anyway, neither is the fault of Atwood in the slightest. For the most part Atwood did some very nice work here, particularly for Anna Kendrick and Emily Blunt. Then there's Johnny Depp's "embarrassing" "Party City" outfit which is just confounding.

Angelina wonders if you're seriously asking if an award for a fantasy film can be given to a woman known mostly for World War II costuming (Captain America: The First Avenger, The Pianist, The Book Thief, Fury, Inglorious Basterds, Band of Brothers). No, seriously, look at that headpiece. The number of outfits in Maleficent weren't quite as multitudinous as, say, The Grand Budapest Hotel, but Anna B. Sheppard hits her marks squarely without ever making a mistake like Depp's Big Bad Wolf. 

I don't know what Blake Lively has to do with Mr. Turner, but the dress she wore to the premiere makes her about as relevant to google as the film's screencaps. So let's just take a moment to appreciate how effulgent it is as well as the fact that it has functional pockets. Also, if one of you works for Chanel, can I come in for a fitting? Okay, gossip blog time is over, and the girl in the screencap above is wondering what took so long. Mr. Turner as a film is generally dusky and muted, and the outfits fit the theme and time beautifully. Jacqueline Durran has done an incredibly nice job here, but I don't think it's on the level of her win for Anna Karenina, which honestly is no fault of her own. Her outfits fit the world beautifully, but I don't think they stand out from the pack enough for a win.

This is the first category I have a discrepancy between what I think will win and what I like the most. The Grand Budapest Hotel, I'm nearly certain, is going to take home an award here. Don't get me wrong, it has competition, but I think Canonero nailed exactly the theme for the film. That said, Maleficent is my personal favorite. Maleficent has multiple outfits that are phenomenal and really carry her character in ways that no other outfit does for any other character in this lineup.

Will win: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Should win: Maleficent