OVP: Best Costume (2019)
The Nominees Were...
Sandy Powell & Christopher Peterson, The Irishman
Mayes C. Rubeo, Jojo Rabbit
Mark Bridges, Joker
Jacqueline Durran, Little Women
Arianne Phillips, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Mayes C. Rubeo, Jojo Rabbit
Mark Bridges, Joker
Jacqueline Durran, Little Women
Arianne Phillips, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
My Thoughts: After a much-needed timeout for the election, we continue on our conversation about the movies of 2019 today with Best Costume Design, and yet another field that is entirely Best Picture nominees (I've talked about this before, but the shortened Oscar season led to the ceremony actually happening which surely it wouldn't have on normal timing due to Covid...but in the process gave us one of the dullest overall tech lineups we've ever seen). The films also all come from period costuming, if at least one of them is a combination of period and fantasy. Since it's the only film properly differentiating itself in such a way, let's begin with Joker.
Joker is a strange film to consider technically "fantasy" if only because it's entirely based in realism-Batman is the rare superhero that is totally without a traditional superpower, so (in theory) a Batman could exist, and of course men obsessed with violence & mayhem like the Joker do exist. As a result, it's not a surprise that Mark Bridges grounds this film more in the iconography of the 1970's than of the DC universe. The most "Joker" of the costumes is the stoplight-colored suit that Arthur wears throughout the movie, and it's eye-popping & instantly iconic. It's also the only thing in the movie that really cries out for praise-the rest of the movie catches the grime of 1970's New York (err...Gotham) but it doesn't feel like it's all that special or memorable.
Joker is a strange film to consider technically "fantasy" if only because it's entirely based in realism-Batman is the rare superhero that is totally without a traditional superpower, so (in theory) a Batman could exist, and of course men obsessed with violence & mayhem like the Joker do exist. As a result, it's not a surprise that Mark Bridges grounds this film more in the iconography of the 1970's than of the DC universe. The most "Joker" of the costumes is the stoplight-colored suit that Arthur wears throughout the movie, and it's eye-popping & instantly iconic. It's also the only thing in the movie that really cries out for praise-the rest of the movie catches the grime of 1970's New York (err...Gotham) but it doesn't feel like it's all that special or memorable.
The same could be said for Jacqueline Durran's work in Little Women. This is a movie that I had mixed reactions to (liked it at parts, otherwise thought it was a bit too scattered in the way it approaches Alcott's novel), but the movie's costumes felt too generic to me. There's too little care put into anyone's outfits save perhaps for Laurie and as the film continues Jo-there's no effort made to differentiating any subtleties in what Meg is wearing from what Amy or Beth are, and Durran (a costume designer I'm almost always behind) has done better. This isn't an ugly film, and I get why the costumes were appreciated, but they felt too generic for an Oscar nomination to me.
Jojo Rabbit feels the same way, but here the costume work feels even less inspired. Other than the red shoes (I'll leave it there if you haven't seen the movie), there's nothing special going on here. Much of the film's outfits are the same Nazi uniform worn to varying degrees by different characters, and so we just have Scarlett Johansson's Rosie standing out as someone who might bring some life to this work, but I didn't feel like it was impressive enough for an Oscar nomination-her eclectic outfits occasionally felt too modern, as if they were a throwback to the 1940's rather than something someone would actually wear in the 1940's, and the costume work in that regard illustrates the biggest flaw with Jojo-how realistic is the film supposed to be? That the costumes further muddy those waters isn't helpful.
We'll continue on with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a movie that is definitely meant to mix the line between realism & reinvention, and is a brilliant use of costuming. Phillips uses all of the women in the film, but particularly Margot Robbie, as an entry point to the unmistakable glamour of the era, and what might be to come. Think of the high-neck black sweater with a white miniskirt & leather thigh-high boots that the film's Sharon wears to see her movie; this costuming gives us an effortless glamour that we'd appreciate now, but also gives just the slightest hints of Sharon's inability to get into a Hollywood machine that sees her as nothing more than pretty face (she always dresses as someone trying to impress rather than someone who has already impressed). I loved the aged touches of the film, and the modernized throwback to the 1960's.
We end with The Irishman, and Sandy Powell, who can do more with men's costumes than pretty much any other designer. Powell's work here is delicious-I love the way that each character's own personal proclivities in fashion don't change even as trends do over the decades-the way that Joe Pesci's Russell always wears heavy coats (that feel a little bit too big for him) or the perfectly-tailored look of all of Jimmy's three-piece suits. This is the sort of detail that oftentimes gets lost in period films, but Powell's a genius who can't skip out on such things. Spread over three hours, she finds a way to impart a sense of personality in her clothing.
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. Period is where much of the eventual Oscar nominees generally come from, and here we have Jojo Rabbit besting Dolemite is My Name, Downton Abbey, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and Rocketman, while over in Fantasy it's Maleficent: Mistress of Evil besting Aladdin, Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel, and Star Wars. Contemporary design had Knives Out over A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Hustlers, Queen & Slim and The Laundromat (a Meryl Streep straight-to-Netflix movie that probably none of us saw). BAFTA skewed closer to Oscar, with all of the same nominees other than Judy getting in over Joker. At the time I thought it was Dolemite is My Name that was the sixth place finisher, and that makes sense in hindsight, but I'd buy that it was 1917 considering how that film dominated with Oscar.
Films I Would Have Nominated: I'll be real here-2019 wasn't a great year for Best Costume Design cinematically. This lineup doesn't inspire a lot of love, but I don't necessarily have that many improvements over it. I would have included Hustlers, as while that would've been a provocative choice, at least the costume decisions felt like they matched the characters in a real way (particularly Jennifer Lopez's Ramona). I'd also include the strange mix of modern-and-period in Transit (which feels perfect in that movie in the way it doesn't in Jojo Rabbit), and maybe Knives Out, if only for the way the film makes this moneyed group of heirs look both eclectic & rich.
Oscar's Choice: In a rather uninspired choice, Jacqueline Durran won her second Oscar for Little Women, probably over Arianne Phillips.
My Choice: For me it's Phillips or Powell, and I'm going with the former as I think she had the harder task & did it more wholly. Behind the two of them, I'd land with Little Women, Joker, and Jojo Rabbit, in that order.
And now, of course, it's your turn. Are you with me over in Hollywood, or do you prefer Oscar & the March sister in Little Women? Why do you think 1917 missed here when it landed virtually everywhere else? And what is an under-sung costuming choice from 2019 we should be highlighting in a lackluster season? Share your thoughts below!
Also in 2019: Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup & Hairstyling, Animated Short, Live Action Short, Previously in 2019
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