How do you predict a category with no guidance? The Costume Designers Guild won’t announce their nominees until the second half of January, at which point the Oscar nominations will already be out there. Therefore, we’re flying blind and I am going with what I perceive to be the strictly obvious choices, though I’m having a hard time figuring out what “fantasy” film I want to include if any.
I don’t think The Avengers or The Dark Knight Rises will get in, but one of the two Snow White films could with Mirror Mirror seeming the more likely given Tarsem Singh’s stunning visuals.
At the top it feels like an easy choice to go with two-time Oscar nominee Jacqueline Durran (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice) who is working with Joe Wright once again, this time on Anna Karenina. Other period pieces in Lincoln and Les Miserables seem like equally smart decisions, but neither Joanna Johnston nor Paco Delgado have been nominated in the past and I haven’t done enough research to know the history behind first-time nominees in this category.
Sharen Davis (Ray, Dreamgirls) has been nominated twice before and her work on Quentin Tarantino‘s Django Unchained is both strong and striking, particularly Django’s (Jamie Foxx) choice in costume on his and Dr. King Schultz’s (Christoph Waltz) out to Big Daddy’s (Don Johnson) plantation.
Then my wild card in fifth is another name that’s never been nominated, Kasia Walicka-Maimone. I get this feeling that on top of sliding into Best Picture, Moonrise Kingdom is going to continue to be recognized in below-the-line categories, such as here in Costumes and again in Production Design.
Below are my current predictions in this category and you can click here for my full field. Comments are welcomed and encouraged as I would love to hear your thoughts on this one.
Best Costumes
- Anna Karenina (Jacqueline Durran)
- Lincoln (Joanna Johnston)
- Les Miserables (Paco Delgado)
- Django Unchained (Sharen Davis)
- Moonrise Kingdom (Kasia Walicka-Maimone)
