OVP: Best Costume (2015)
The Nominees Were...
Sandy Powell, Carol
Sandy Powell, Cinderella
Paco Delgado, The Danish Girl
Jenny Beaven, Mad Max: Fury Road
Jacqueline West, The Revenant
Sandy Powell, Cinderella
Paco Delgado, The Danish Girl
Jenny Beaven, Mad Max: Fury Road
Jacqueline West, The Revenant
My Thoughts: We continue on with the Costume designers in our 2015 OVP write-ups (if you've missed any of them, click below for links to past 2015/Costume discussions, and click above if you're truly new to the blog and don't know what the OVP is). The first thing that strikes me looking at this lineup isn't just that Sandy Powell is nominated twice, but more that all four of these nominees were Oscar pro's, with Powell & Beaven previous winners at the time, and Delgado & West being previously-cited nominees. In a year where the entire event felt quite chummy (many of the below-the-line nominees were previous nominees, and has anyone else noticed a trend that that's happening more and more?), this feels unfortunate except for the fact that most of these nominees are, well, quite good.
We'll start off with the twin wonder that is Sandy Powell's nominations. Powell, admittedly one of my favorite designers, has yet to actually pull off an OVP despite two bronzes and a silver, so I'm going to try really hard not to automatically give her this one after getting close so often (OVP should always be in a vacuum, that's kind of the point). Still, the costume work in Cinderella is ravishing. Powell creates an elegant first-look at Cinderella's gown, instead of just ripping off a costume ball sort of frock to mirror Disney's iconic evening wear, she adds subtle shades of blue and sparkle to the design. She also plays quite furiously with Cate Blanchett's attire, giving us an elegant olive green that's just gaudy enough to still be fabulous, and doesn't shy away from throwing in design with some of her daywear (this is a woman who wouldn't be afraid of the bold). Plus, Powell's penchant for being the best costume designer working for men, does wonders with Richard Madden, making him look dapper in stuffy green, blue, and white jackets. All-in-all, it's a winner in what could have just been a recreation of the animated picture.
Powell's other nomination is breathtaking. Here we leave behind the fairy tale grandeur and try for realism, but a realism of a rich woman with a very large expense account trying to impress a younger sales clerk. Cate Blanchett's Carol needs to be perfect always, as it's a character trait, and she covers up completely when she's trying to hide herself from the world. Look at the way that Carol goes from being a woman with high necklines and multiple layers to relaxed, eventually lounging in a flannel night robe. I also love the way that Rooney Mara starts to mirror Carol's style, as she's learning about her sexuality from Carol so this would be inevitable, and the slight touches Powell imparts on the viewer with her costuming. It's a triumph, and every look from this is honestly frame-worthy. Powell outdid herself in both of these pictures.
Her biggest competition at the Oscars that year should have been Paco Delgado, who creates a fascinating world of costuming in The Danish Girl. I didn't particularly care for this movie, but there's no denying his artistry here. Like Carol, here we have Lili mirroring Gerda's costuming choices, perhaps more out of necessity than anything else (they're the only clothes she has access to), but continually her personality starts to shine a bit more through the clothes. I love the use of blue, grey, and especially brown in the picture, frequently making these artists, who live for aesthetic, match their carefully-designed rooms as every moment is an opportunity for art, and millinery that would make Hedda Hopper proud (though considering Hopper's bigotry, this would be the only part of the movie she'd would like).
Jacqueline West surely had the hardest job of any of these nominees last year, combining realism with actual realism (finding costumes that were truly warm and didn't just look historically accurate for actors in the blistering cold). West has spoken about how she tried to impart a great deal of personality onto the characters, and honestly I should check to see if Leo thanked her in his speech, as she certainly helped his wandering man by making him look like a lost monk in the snowy wilderness. It also has to be said that while I'm not blown away by the costumes in a major way while watching the film, in interviews West makes a pretty compelling case for her nomination, talking about the painstaking realism, actually making all of these costumes from scratch and using actual bear fur for DiCaprio's final costume to give the film an authenticity I'm sure Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu demanded. That's determination, even if I'm not quite as sold on the nomination as I am the first three we discussed.
Which brings us to Jenny Beaven. Listen, I like Jenny Beaven and I'm still mad about the cascade of men who didn't applaud for her as she won her Oscar, but I don't feel like this nomination is quite in the same league as the other four. The costumes feel very borrowed from previous iterations of the movies, with some modifications for modernity, but I don't see a lot of connection between the costume work and the actual characters. It's not that the work isn't pretty (though it's not not that), but I don't feel like it has the same personality here as the makeup does. Look at how the women that are rescued feel too interchangeable, even when they aren't meant to be, and how the crew of Immortan Joe feel interchangeable. Beaven, who won her first Oscar for the lace-and-corset-bedecked A Room with a View, is out of her comfort zone, but I don't see the same inventiveness I know she's capable of here. I think this is perhaps the sole Mad Max nomination that may have been part of a "we like the movie" rather than the "movie earned it."
We'll start off with the twin wonder that is Sandy Powell's nominations. Powell, admittedly one of my favorite designers, has yet to actually pull off an OVP despite two bronzes and a silver, so I'm going to try really hard not to automatically give her this one after getting close so often (OVP should always be in a vacuum, that's kind of the point). Still, the costume work in Cinderella is ravishing. Powell creates an elegant first-look at Cinderella's gown, instead of just ripping off a costume ball sort of frock to mirror Disney's iconic evening wear, she adds subtle shades of blue and sparkle to the design. She also plays quite furiously with Cate Blanchett's attire, giving us an elegant olive green that's just gaudy enough to still be fabulous, and doesn't shy away from throwing in design with some of her daywear (this is a woman who wouldn't be afraid of the bold). Plus, Powell's penchant for being the best costume designer working for men, does wonders with Richard Madden, making him look dapper in stuffy green, blue, and white jackets. All-in-all, it's a winner in what could have just been a recreation of the animated picture.
Powell's other nomination is breathtaking. Here we leave behind the fairy tale grandeur and try for realism, but a realism of a rich woman with a very large expense account trying to impress a younger sales clerk. Cate Blanchett's Carol needs to be perfect always, as it's a character trait, and she covers up completely when she's trying to hide herself from the world. Look at the way that Carol goes from being a woman with high necklines and multiple layers to relaxed, eventually lounging in a flannel night robe. I also love the way that Rooney Mara starts to mirror Carol's style, as she's learning about her sexuality from Carol so this would be inevitable, and the slight touches Powell imparts on the viewer with her costuming. It's a triumph, and every look from this is honestly frame-worthy. Powell outdid herself in both of these pictures.
Her biggest competition at the Oscars that year should have been Paco Delgado, who creates a fascinating world of costuming in The Danish Girl. I didn't particularly care for this movie, but there's no denying his artistry here. Like Carol, here we have Lili mirroring Gerda's costuming choices, perhaps more out of necessity than anything else (they're the only clothes she has access to), but continually her personality starts to shine a bit more through the clothes. I love the use of blue, grey, and especially brown in the picture, frequently making these artists, who live for aesthetic, match their carefully-designed rooms as every moment is an opportunity for art, and millinery that would make Hedda Hopper proud (though considering Hopper's bigotry, this would be the only part of the movie she'd would like).
Jacqueline West surely had the hardest job of any of these nominees last year, combining realism with actual realism (finding costumes that were truly warm and didn't just look historically accurate for actors in the blistering cold). West has spoken about how she tried to impart a great deal of personality onto the characters, and honestly I should check to see if Leo thanked her in his speech, as she certainly helped his wandering man by making him look like a lost monk in the snowy wilderness. It also has to be said that while I'm not blown away by the costumes in a major way while watching the film, in interviews West makes a pretty compelling case for her nomination, talking about the painstaking realism, actually making all of these costumes from scratch and using actual bear fur for DiCaprio's final costume to give the film an authenticity I'm sure Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu demanded. That's determination, even if I'm not quite as sold on the nomination as I am the first three we discussed.
Which brings us to Jenny Beaven. Listen, I like Jenny Beaven and I'm still mad about the cascade of men who didn't applaud for her as she won her Oscar, but I don't feel like this nomination is quite in the same league as the other four. The costumes feel very borrowed from previous iterations of the movies, with some modifications for modernity, but I don't see a lot of connection between the costume work and the actual characters. It's not that the work isn't pretty (though it's not not that), but I don't feel like it has the same personality here as the makeup does. Look at how the women that are rescued feel too interchangeable, even when they aren't meant to be, and how the crew of Immortan Joe feel interchangeable. Beaven, who won her first Oscar for the lace-and-corset-bedecked A Room with a View, is out of her comfort zone, but I don't see the same inventiveness I know she's capable of here. I think this is perhaps the sole Mad Max nomination that may have been part of a "we like the movie" rather than the "movie earned it."
Other Precursor Contenders: The Costume Designers Guild is one of the only guilds to separate their nominees into not one or two categories, but three: contemporary, period, and fantasy. As you can see above, Period is where Oscar tends to have his greatest loves, and we see that with both Carol and The Danish Girl (the victor) joining Brooklyn, Crimson Peak, and Trumbo as nominees. Meanwhile, the Fantasy category had Mad Max besting Oscar-nominated Cinderella as well as Ex Machina, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 (what an odious title), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Finally, in the category with no Oscar loving, Beasts of No Nation won Contemporary over Joy, The Martian, Kingsman: The Secret Service, and Youth. The BAFTA Awards also went with Beaven, and actually had a near carbon copy of the Oscar list, only substituting out The Revenant in favor of Brooklyn, a film that feels almost certain to have been the sixth place contender in this lineup.
Films I Would Have Nominated: I have to say-2015 is one of the best costume years I've seen during our Oscar Viewing Project, perhaps the best in recent memory, so there's a plethora of nominees to choose from here, and quite frankly this would have been a hard ballot for me to select, as I'd want to keep my Top 3 Oscar choices. I would likely find room for the period-perfect work in Brooklyn, and the way that Odile Dicks-Mireaux still finds room for personality even while practically drawing a painting with the movie. I also surely would have nominated The Man from UNCLE, a largely forgotten movie that nonetheless had arguably the best costuming work of 2015. The way that Joanna Johnston creates impossibly mod looks for Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Debicki while also sexualizing Henry Cavill to an almost jaw-dropping degree in his elegant suits is marvelous.
Oscar's Choice: Oscar stuck with the precursors (I didn't remember them being so uniform) and gave the trophy to Jenny Beaven, with Paco Delgado probably in second thanks to Powell's vote-splitting.
My Choice: I will just break the news now-Sandy Powell's losing streak is over as I think her two films are the best. I actually find myself gravitating more to Cinderella even though I liked Carol as a movie more as it feels like a more challenging film to put personality into since you're fighting with a multi-billion dollar empire that wants carbon copies of the dolls it sells everywhere. In third is the still quite worthy The Danish Girl, with The Revenant and Mad Max coming up the rear.
And now, of course, it's your turn. Are you with me that Cinderella deserved this trophy, or you more in line with giving this to Beaven? Do you think Beaven was a side beneficiary of all of those "Leo in the wilderness" plugs to try and finally get him his Oscar? And why was Brooklyn left out here when it's a Best Picture nominee with an obvious hook? Share your thoughts below!
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