I got up this morning just in time to watch the Academy Award nominations announced live from Hollywood. I did this unintentionally, I swear– it wasn’t even all that early, since the Academy forced reporters and host Seth MacFarlane to be there at 5.30 a.m. PST (It’s clear which coast this is catered to.) Even a co-presenter as charming as Emma Stone couldn’t prevent awkward moments, like those teleprompter jokes that inevitably fall flat. Perhaps my negativity had to do with a need for coffee, but I sensed a sort of buyer’s remorse emanating from attendees when it came to MacFarlane as a host. He noted that best foreign film nominee Amour was much better than the last German-Austrian co-production, Adolph Hitler. I would expect no less, or more, from the creator of Family Guy.
I watched primarily for the costume design nominees, which were never even mentioned. The best song nominations were, and it pains me the Academy thinks people care more about the oft-forgettable tunes usually nominated just to get Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, or Adele to perform at the ceremony than the hair, make-up, and costume designers who are so responsible for the look of entire films.
Once I found the list of nominees online, I learned there were no surprises. All the films are set in the past, with three situated in the 19th century (Les Misérables, Lincoln, and Anna Karenina) and the final two being the year’s re-inventions of Snow White (Mirror, Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman) set in the vaguely Medieval-Elizabethan world of fairy tales. I understand why period pieces are heavily weighted to be nominated, the costume designers not only have to balance historical fact with the film’s style, but also create all of the costumes from scratch, sometimes for thousand of actors. Costumers had literally armies of people to dress for all of the films mentioned above.
But I also wish that films set in the present day that feature interesting clothing would occasionally be recognized. Despite all the fashion editorials created to coincide with holiday movies (this year, magazines were left with no time to pull Jazz Age-themed photo shoots after The Great Gatsby‘s release was pushed back), it’s characters that dress like contemporary people that really influence viewers. I for one believe Diane Keaton should have an Oscar for her still-popular costumes from Annie Hall, many of which she styled herself and came from her own wardrobe.
For movies set in the past, costume designers have two basic options–go for historical realism, or deliberately indulge in anachronistic fantasy. Occasionally, designers do something in-between. This year’s nominations, despite their similarities in period, represent the range. And while these films show how beautiful the past can be (especially in hindsight), they hint that women were constricted by corsets in more ways than one.
Joanna Johnston, costume designer for Lincoln, not only tried to be historically accurate, but had to transform Daniel Day Lewis and Sally Field into the recognizable figures of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln. For Field, who is not only older than Mrs. Lincoln was in the 1860’s but also much slimmer, this meant pilling up her slight frame in crinolines and petticoats. Mary Todd was a difficult, controversial figure who bought French couture, but lacked natural elegance (the term First Lady was coined for her but meant as an insult). Johnston’s richly-embroidered but oppressive gowns evoke the feeling of claustrophobia, of a woman burdened with the obligations of a public life she never wanted.
Paco Delgado had the opposite task with his costumes for Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables. As the ill-fated Fantine, Hathaway goes from a pretty and long-locked seamstress, to a wane, shorn-head prostitute. To suggest even more weight loss than the actress achieved, Delgado strategically darkened parts of her tattered dresses to suggest a skeletal form. As her daughter Cozette, Amanda Seyfried has prettier gowns, but the viewer can barely get a look at them as the camera zooms in so often for extreme close-ups of her saucer-sized eyes. And Helena Bonham Carter looks like she wandered out of a Tim Burton film, which is, of course, unsurprising.
Although set in the 1870’s, Anna Karenina deliberately breaks the rules of a period film, with costume designer Jacqueline Durran drawing equal inspiration from 1950’s couture and late Imperial Russia. Some of the gowns Keira Knightley wears as the title character have swoop neck bodices that better resemble the heroines of Hitchcock than Tolstoy. I haven’t seen the film, but it looks gorgeous (although I’m scared of seeing the faded beauty of Jude Law).
In the two Snow White movies, realism goes completely out the castle window. Both feature sword-fighting princesses and, in both, the Evil Queen is played by the older, more famous star. If it wasn’t easy aging in fairy tales, it’s probably just as difficult for Hollywood beauties like Charlize Theron and Julia Roberts. In Snow White and the Huntsman, Colleen Atwood has Kristen Stewart as Snow White stumbling around the forest in ripped skirts and leather, while Theron gets to wear capes made of feathers and gowns of bones and metal. Villains have all the fun.
Roberts steals even more attention in Mirror, Mirror with elaborate get-ups that resemble avant garde Japanese designs. I wasn’t surprised to learn the costume designer was Eiko Ishioka, who also created Bram Stoker’s Dracula‘s wonderful costumes. Snow White only wears four costumes, one of which had to have its colours switched from blue-and-red to blue-and-orange to avoid looking too much like Disney’s (apparently copyrighted) Snow White. Ishioka was undergoing chemotherapy during the filming of Mirror, Mirror, and she sadly passed away early last year.
The other sad story about this year’s costume nods was the revelation that Sharen Davis wasn’t nominated for Django Unchained. Last week, it seemed like a glitch on the Academy’s website leaked she would be. (The sentence that appeared said this would be the third nomination for Davis, who previously was recognized for Dream Girls and Ray.) Davis was notified and interviewed by Vanity Fair before an Academy spokesperson said that bios were written for everyone who might be nominated, and the leak signified nothing. Then Davis was not on the list of nominees today.
That’s quite a roller coaster of emotions for one week. I don’t know if Davis deserved the nomination (I’m more of a Dream Girls watcher than a Tarantino one), but her sexy, ahistorical costumes for Django would have fit in well this year and added some spice to all the princesses and duchesses.
Of course, the fashion story of the Oscars is not the costumes in the films, but the costumes on the red carpet– when actresses play humbled professionals who casually slip into couture gowns moments before the limousine arrives. The movie star is, after all, the fairy tale princess of our time.
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Max Mosher writes about style for Toronto Standard. You can follow him on Twitter at @max_mosher_.
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