The red carpet at the 92nd Academy Awards on Feb. 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin | Los Angeles Times (via TNS)
Award season is in full swing. Beyond best actor, director and film, one category at this year’s Academy Awards is particularly competitive.
Costumes play a major role in cinematic world-building and helping audiences connect to on-screen characters, fashion and retail studies students Keona Sakai and Alex Tremblay said. The five Best Costume Design picks for this year’s Oscars are “Barbie,” “Poor Things,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Oppenheimer” and “Napoleon.”
With the Academy Awards less than a month away, Sakai and Tremblay weigh in on what makes these films’ costumes Oscar-worthy.
In order to better understand the importance of costumes, fourth-year Sakai — also an aspiring fashion designer — explains the significance of outfits worn by characters.
“You put a man in a well-fitted, crisp suit, you know he’s a no-nonsense businessman,” Sakai said. “Movies can mean so much more when you watch the costuming — it’s all on purpose.”
“Barbie”
A summer blockbuster, “Barbie” follows the stereotypical Barbie doll as she faces the struggles of a not-so-perfect real world and undergoes a humanistic transformation.
According to the Motion Picture Association’s website, costume designer Jacqueline Durran aimed to ensure she highlighted iconic Mattel ensembles when curating the film’s costumes. Mattel has always had an impressive impact on the toy market, and Durran sought to connect the outfits with the memories people have of Barbie, the website states.
Through Durran’s investigation of real-life Barbie doll outfits, she decided to center the movie’s costumes on iconic looks from the late ‘70s to the late ‘80s. Sakai said one particularly quintessential look featured by Durran is Barbie’s black-and-white-striped swimsuit from 1959.
“This was how Barbie debuted,” Sakai said. “People doubted how well Barbie would do because girls were playing with baby dolls, they were playing moms. Barbie opened a world for girls to play as whatever they wanted to. The scene reflects that. The little girls were playing with baby dolls, and then Barbie appeared just as she did with her debut in the world of toys.”
Barbie’s stylistic influence encouraged movie-goers to show up at theaters in their best Barbie-inspired outfits, reflecting their childlike affinity for the pop culture icon.
Tremblay, the director of design for Ohio State’s Fashion Production Association, said the film’s cultural domination was a fashion statement in itself.
“When I think about July 2023, I will always see a pink blur,” Tremblay said. “I don’t follow these kinds of trends well, but everything was pink and fabulous.”
“Oppenheimer”
Consistency is one element costume designer Ellen Mirojnick prioritized when tailoring the famed physicist’s historic style, according to IndieWire’s website. The film takes viewers on the journey of scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the creation of the atomic bomb, the website states.
Mirojnick wanted to highlight how unchanging Oppenheimer’s silhouette was from his time at the University of California Berkeley throughout the following decades. His three-piece suits and tight collars created a distinction between himself and other characters, ensuring he would stand out to audiences, the website states.
“I think it was important, though, to visually separate him from the other scientists,” Sakai said. “We see a lot of faces and hear a lot of names throughout. But keeping him in the same costume allows us to follow him easier.”
The “Oppenheimer” costume design team maintained the mindset that all the scientists’ individual personalities would be reflected in their wardrobes. This included their shoes, the patterns on their ties and even their cufflinks.
In comparison to the other nominees, however, Tremblay wasn’t too impressed with the designs depicted in the movie, which they said felt repetitive and borderline stagnant.
“It speaks to his character,” Tremblay said. “Consistent, dependable, et cetera. I can’t say much more other than, yeah, he wore a tailored suit most of his life.”
Sakai agreed but said the bland costuming was inevitable for the sake of respecting the film’s biopic nature.
“I think it was boring but necessary,” Sakai said. “It might’ve been historically accurate too, Oppenheimer might have dressed the same every day.”
“Poor Things”
Campy and complex — two adjectives that describe Holly Waddington’s fashion design in “Poor Things.” The film introduces audiences to Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), who is brought back to life and implanted with the brain of a fetus. Baxter embarks on a journey of romance that can only be described as intense, comedic and emotional.
Not only was the film itself intense but the wardrobe was filled with powerful and unforgettable looks, Sakai said. She said the costume design is strategically planned to depict the stages of Baxter’s life throughout the film.
“The playfulness in her costuming is carried throughout the film but is masterfully used in each stage of her life,” Sakai said.
According to the Hollywood Reporter’s website, the entire ensemble’s wardrobe consisted of many structural elements of the late 19th century, with a very vivid palette of clothing communicating the time period’s rich visual aesthetics. Waddington also intentionally highlighted Baxter’s awkward anatomy of an adult’s body and a child’s mind, the website states.
“Bella has five phases in the movie,” Sakai said. “It starts with infantilization in the first part with ruffles and quilting in babydoll-style dresses. In part two, we see more Victorian style that’s been playfully reimagined. Then into the mishmash of styles with a specific look having a cropped Victorian jacket, ’30s style underwear and boots inspired by a ’60s designer.”
The film’s delicate and soft color palettes were used to symbolize Baxter’s childlike mind and the erotic overtones of the film as the character experiences her sexual awakening, the website states. For some, however, this artistic decision fell flat, Tremblay said.
“The idea of colors being more prominently used as Bella matures was interesting, but I don’t know if it hit the mark the way they wanted it to, and the film rang strangely for me,” Tremblay said. “I feel like there was a lot of emphasis placed on sex, as seen with the skin-colored garments and something the designer called a ‘vagina blouse,’ which was definitely a choice, but there is so much they could have explored and didn’t.”
Sakai said the film’s conclusion shifts toward a darker color palette via Baxter’s discovery of her own femininity and autonomous decision to attend medical school.
“In the end, we see Bella in dark academia,” Sakai said. “The idea was that she looks like all the other businessmen, but when you look down at her [exposed] legs, she’s still Bella.”
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
Historical accuracy plays a major role in designer Jacqueline West’s costuming in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” The film depicts the early-1900s “Reign of Terror” and conspiracy in which 24 members of the Native American Osage tribe were killed by white, American men to obtain their mineral rights, according to the Los Angeles Times’ website. Overall, the film pays homage to and resurrects the Osage of Oklahoma during the 1920s.
“Movies that don’t heavily involve members of the communities they represent in their design and direction might as well not get made,” Tremblay said. “Costume designers, especially, have an obligation to properly represent cultures since so much of the medium of film is visual.”
West revived parts of Osage culture through the creation of period-accurate clothing, the website states. According to the website, Osage art consultant Julie O’Keefe was hired to ensure accurate depictions and locate artists who would bring the period back to life.
“There are a lot of areas to consider when doing a historical film,” Sakai said. “It’s a lot of work, but history buffs would appreciate it. You don’t want to put a wrong silhouette, fabric, technique or style in the wrong historical time period. It’s easier than you think to get something wrong.”
“Napoleon”
For designers Janty Yates and David Crossman, costuming “Napoleon” was a battle in and of itself. The movie depicts the rise of military commander and French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and the complicated relationship he had with his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais.
“I think Janty Yates and the costume team for Napoleon did a great job at being accurate while still bringing the characters a lot of life,” Tremblay said.
Both Yates and Crossman collaborated to make thousands of costumes, the website states.
“When it comes to the actual construction of these pieces, it’s intense,” Sakai said. “These costumes were very labor-intensive.”
To ensure the costumes were historically accurate, the website states Crossman and Yates visited museums and significant historical locations as well as studied garments Napoleon and Joséphine actually wore.
“When doing period costume pieces, it’s important to do your research to stay historically accurate,” Sakai said. “Fun fact: those three buttons on the sleeves of dress shirts are there because Napoleon didn’t want his men to be wiping their noses on their sleeves, so he added buttons to the sleeves to deter them. And we still wear them today, even if they don’t serve that much function.”
This year’s Academy Award for Best Costume Design will be announced at the 96th annual Oscars, which is scheduled for March 10. According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ website, the ceremony can be viewed on ABC or via streaming services like Hulu Live TV, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV and FuboTV.
