Since 1967, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has annually presented one film with the Award for Best Costume Design. The Award represents the narrative and visual importance of the filmic wardrobe as an integral part of any moviegoing experience. Imagine, for example, The Fifth Element completely extracted from the steely, futuristic world that Jean Paul Gaultier’s costume designs helped to build—it would be a completely different film! This year, the five Oscars nominees for Best Costume Design brought viewers a veritable aesthetic cornucopia, with such thematic difference that it simply must be discussed.
Conclave
Lisy Christl, costume designer for Edward Berger’s critically lauded Conclave, deftly represented the somberness of papal and monastic dress. In an interview with the Motion Picture Association, Christl describes how she opted for a deeper red hue and heavier wool than is traditionally used for a Cardinal’s vestments. All the more, to add a tone of severity around the film’s central theme, the intra-ecclesiastical combat inherent in the election of a new Pope.
Nosferatu
Canadian costume designer Linda Muir expertly bolstered the psychosexual allure that gripped audiences of Nosferatu. Muir’s costumes adhered strongly to the Romantic style of dress popular in the 1830s German setting of the film.
Throughout the film, Muir strips back the layers of Ellen’s (Lily-Rose Depp) Romantic dress (overcoat, bodice, chemise) to reveal her blossoming desire for the sickly Count Orlock (Bill Skarsgård).
Wicked
As a high fantasy film, Wicked’s costuming was unbound by the realist tenets of filmmaking that demand a wardrobe grounded in cultural accuracy. The domain of Wicked’s costume design is one of sheer whimsy and fun. Costume designer Paul Tazewell emphasizes the effervescence of Glinda (Ariana Grande) with a cascading pink tulle bustier gown as ebullient as the character herself. Conversely, Tazewell dresses Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) as the intelligent misfit in a pleated, high-shouldered gown as dark and beautiful as earth. Indeed, it was his intention for the fabrics of Elphaba’s wardrobe to invoke the appearance of “roots, bark, [and] mushrooms.”
Gladiator II
Costume designers Janty Yates and David Crossman collaborated on the wardrobe for Gladiator II. The ornamentality and libidinality of the film’s Roman military vestments certainly beguile the eye, and the jewelry is lavish for men and women alike. It is as if the garb is alive and through it you can both see and feel the electric fervor of Roman desire for imperial dominance.
A Complete Unknown
With the wardrobe of A Complete Unknown, costume designer Arianne Phillips teleported viewers back to the grit of New York City circa 1960. It’s all about mid-waist jeans, beat-up wool sweaters, and a healthy amount of suede. Through the career trajectory of Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet), Phillips employs a wardrobe that begins with blue jeans, working-class Americana and ends with the mod fashion explosion of the mid-sixties.
