colleen atwood

[12] The Grand Budapest Hotel – Best Costume Design

MILENA CANONERO
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”

The costumes of “The Grand Budapest Hotel” should be catnip for the Oscar voters this year. Not only is it a period piece set in several different eras, including the 1930s and ’60s, but it also has a fantasy style to it, with rich colors and on-the-nose representations of those eras, as ridiculous as they may be. The uniforms of the employees at the hotel set the tone for the entire film. By making them so distinct, if I am to see these costumes in the distant future, it will remind immediately of this film. On top of that, the costumes add to the humorous and sometimes awkward nature of the characters, whether its the ridiculous lobby boy hat that Zero wears or the get-ups Gustave and Zero wear incognito, each stylistic choice brings out certain facets of the character that otherwise would not be present.

What’s its competition? As I keep stating, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” has nine nominations, making it an odds-on favorite to at least take home a few. My biggest bets are on it taking Best Production Design as well as Best Costume Design. With a Best Picture nomination to back it up, it should not have too hard of a time getting the win. That is, unless, they decide to give it to Colleen Atwood (“Into The Woods”), an Academy favorite with ten previous nominations and three wins. Her work in fantasy has definitely gotten her noticed as of late and could prove the main competition in this category. That being said, Milena Canonero has had a total of nine nominations, so she too is known well among the Academy, also having three previous wins. Still, my money would probably go on Canonero, just in order to honor “The Grand Budapest Hotel” in whatever way possible, since it likely won’t be taking the bigger awards.

TheGrandBudapestHotel_Costume-shaded InherentVice_Costume IntoTheWoods_Costume Maleficent_Costume MrTurner_Costume

// Produced by Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales, and Jeremy Dawson // Directed by Wes Anderson //
// Dated Viewed: Sunday, January 25th, 2015 // BLU-RAY //  33 films – 29 days //

[5] Maleficent – Best Costume Design

ANNA B. SHEPPARD
“Maleficent”

Following in the footsteps of “Snow White and the Huntsman” (2011), the Disney film “Maleficent” sets out to turn the animated story of “Sleeping Beauty” into a live action, fantasy adventure film. With that comes not only some wild costumes for title character, Maleficent, but bringing to real life some costumes that were pivotal in the 1959 animated version, including Maleficent’s black gown worn to baby Aurora’s announcement ceremony in which she places a curse on her. Down to every town’s folk and every practical fairy, the costumes are set to the period and highlighted more so on the main characters, including a few standout dresses for Aurora, a progression of outfits for Maleficent as she transitions into a villain, and even the king’s attire for different occasions. Instead of Colleen Atwood, who designed the costumes for “Snow White and the Huntsman,” they went with Anna B. Sheppard, who was previously nominated for her work in “The Pianist” (2002) and “Schindler’s List” (1993). Both of those films would go on to win major awards like Best Director and for “Schindler’s List,” also Best Picture, but Anna was awarded for her work.

What’s its competition? Not only does Anna B. Sheppard have competition in the realm of fantasy films, this year, with “Into The Woods” grabbing a little more support than “Maleficent” with 3 overall nominations. She also has competition as a whole. “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” which has 9 total nominations including Best Picture may put “Maleficent” at a disadvantage from the get-go. Even “Mr. Turner” has more support, with 5 nominations, meaning the Academy is a) going to be focusing on these films more than ones with less nominations and b) making it more likely that these films have bigger support overall, which could result in a win in these smaller categories, especially since they might not be honored in the other categories they are nominated. Since the designs are extravagant, there should not be any counting out of “Maleficent” and for sure it can beat out “Inherent Vice,” but unless it can overcome the popularity of the other nominees, I see little hope for it to win.

TheGrandBudapestHotel_Costume InherentVice_Costume IntoTheWoods_Costume Maleficent_Costume-shaded MrTurner_Costume

// Produced by Joe Roth // Directed by Robert Stromberg //
// Dated Viewed: Tuesday, January 20th, 2015 // BLU-RAY //  40 films – 34 days //