The 85th annual Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, was held last Feb. 24 at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. For costumers, the most relevant Oscar awards were those handed out to the winners in the categories of costume design as well as makeup and hairstyling. Both awards were presented by celebrities Jennifer Aniston and Channing Tatum.
There were five nominations in the costume design category, three of which were for period movies and two for fantasy movies. The three period movies were “Anna Karenina” (Jacqueline Durran), “Les Misérables” (Paco Delgado) and “Lincoln” (Joanna Johnston). The two fantasy movies were both for Snow White stories: “Mirror Mirror” (Eiko Ishioka) and “Snow White and the Huntsman” (Colleen Atwood). Ishioka previously won the Oscar for costume design for “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” in 1992 and multi-nominated Atwood received the Oscar for “Alice in Wonderland” in 2010, “Memoirs of a Geisha” in 2005 and “Chicago” in 2002.
The winner for best costume design this year went to Durran for “Anna Karenina.” The movie stars Keira Knightely as Anna in a romantic drama set in Russia during the late 19th century. Durran most likely won for the elegant and beautiful costumes the aristocratic women and men wore in the movie. This was the first win for Durran who was previously nominated for “Atonement” (2007) and “Pride and Prejudice” (2005), both of which also featured Knightley.
Makeup and hairstyling enhance costumes and add to the personality of the characters. There were only three nominees in this category this year: “Hitchcock” (Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel), “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” (Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane) and “Les Misérables” (Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell).
“Les Misérables” won the award for makeup and hairstyling as well as Best Supporting Actress for Anne Hathaway who played Fantine in the movie adaptation of the well-loved musical. Westcott was previously nominated for “Shakespeare in Love” in 1998 and “Mrs. Brown” in 1997. “Les Misérables” deserved the award as it had a huge ensemble cast that needed different types of makeup and hairstyling that included different social classes of people as well as aging the main characters such as Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman).
All the winners and nominees created great costumes as well as makeup and hairstyling. They all helped the audience enjoy the films and get absorbed in the stories and characters.
Copyright 2013, Jean Martin.
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