The Oscar race for outfit configuration is more serious than any time in recent memory, with five Black-themed period pieces (“Da 5 Bloods,” “Mama Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “One Night in Miami,” “Judas and the Black Messiah,” and “The United States versus Billie Holiday”) competing for assignments alongside the highly contrasting “Mank,” the lavish “Mulan,” and the eye-popping “Emma.”
Photo by David Lee/David Lee/Netflix – © NETFLIX
Notwithstanding, George C. Wolfe’s August Wilson transformation, “Mama Rainey’s Black Bottom,” is the reasonable leader, given Viola Davis’ incredible exhibition as the exploring ’20s blues vocalist, who displayed her conspicuous closet to pass on a hot, rebellious picture. The 89-year-old Oscar-winning ensemble creator, Ann Roth (“The English Patient”), put Davis in an elastic suit demonstrated after Aretha Franklin, and gathered a variety of striking and strong outfits (counting streaming berry-red and blue velvet dresses). However, significantly, Roth additionally assisted hair office head Mia Neal and cosmetics beautician Sergio Lopez Rivera by educating them that Rainey made her hairpieces out of horsehair and had a significant piece of gold teeth.
Outfit planner Trish Summerville considered ’30s Hollywood styles for David Fincher’s “Mank,” about harsh, alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman) battling to produce a first draft of “Resident Kane.” This included fitting Amanda Seyfried as celebrity and Hearst Castle entertainer Marion Davies (the champion is the gold weak dress for Louis B. Mayer’s birthday celebration), alongside the male-overwhelmed studio chiefs. For Oldman’s Mank, however, who was not a sharp dresser, she gave two or three trusty suits. Obviously, the main part of Summerville’s work was deciding the correct tones for highly contrasting. For that, she was helped by her iPhone’s monochromatic setting, and conceived a closet worked around pastels, with a lot of lavenders, greens, purples, and burgundies.
For Disney’s lavish, live-action reimagining of “Mulan,” costume designer Bina Daigeler concentrated on the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) for its use of primary colors, fabrics (cotton, silk, and leather), and symbols (clouds and animals). Director Niki Caro mounted an epic movie that accentuates the emotional strength of Mulan (Liu Yifei), and Daigeler emphasized that in the costumes. The lilac Hanfu wrap dress became perfect for the matchmaking costume, with its intricately embroidered symbols, and Mulan’s red tunic and battle armor were form-fitted to comply with the lyricism of the battle sequences.
Oscar-winning costume designer Alexandra Byrne (“Elizabeth: The Golden Age”) returned to tackling Jane Austen with “Emma,” directed by Autumn de Wilde. But, unlike her previous work on “Persuasion,” Byrne was inspired by an infusion of color. In fact, the romcom, with Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Queen’s Gambit”) as the titular matchmaker, boldly embraces color and shape at a time when the 19th century Regency period underwent radical changes in female fashion. The costume designer was stirred by the use of inventive color combinations and fabric mixtures as symbols of individuality and fun. And Emma undergoes striking wardrobe changes in every scene as part of her character arc. But the long yellow jacket became an instant favorite.
Then, for Regina King’s “One Night in Miami,” outfit originator Francine Jamison-Tanchuck made the particular looks of Black legends Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.). They passed on various vibes with regards to their pictures: academic for Malcolm X, easygoing for Clay, formal for Brown, and a la mode for Cooke.
For Paul Greengrass’ “Information on the World,” the post-Civil War western, Oscar-winning outfit fashioner Mark Bridges (“The Phantom Thread” and “The Artist”) fit Confederate vet Tom Hanks into a closet that passed on close to home importance, including a rich gown coat for his news readings that caused him to seem stately.
Frontrunners
“Emma”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Mank”
“Mulan”
“One Night in Miami”
Contenders
“Ammonite”
“Da 5 Bloods”
“News of the World”
“Promising Young Woman”
“The Personal History of David Copperfield”
“The Prom”
“The Trial of the Chicago 7”
“The United States vs. Billie Holiday”
Long Shots
“Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey”
“Hillbilly Elegy”
“Judas and the Black Messiah”
“Pinocchio”
Key Oscar Indicators
The Academy’s costume design branch currently has 183 members, of which 167 are active and 16 are retired. The last black-and-white costume design winner was Mark Bridges for “The Artist” (2011). Unlike the Academy, the Costume Designers Guild separates its film awards by contemporary, period, and fantasy.
Key Dates
Monday, February 1, 2021
Preliminary Oscar voting begins
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
CDGA nomination ballot voting opens online at 6:00 a.m. PST
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
CDGA nomination ballots voting close at 5:00 p.m. PST
Sunday, February 28, 2021
Submission deadline for the Oscars
Thursday, March 4, 2021
Official announcement of 23rd CDGA nominees to the press
Friday, March 5, 2021
Oscar nominations voting begins
Wednesday, March 10, 2021
Oscar nominations voting ends 5:00 p.m. PST
Monday, March 15, 2021
Oscar nominations announced
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Final CDGA ballot voting opens online 6:00 a.m. PST
Monday, March 29, 2021
Final CDGA ballot voting closes at 5:00 p.m. PST
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
Winners announced at the 23rd CDG Awards (a combination live and streaming event)
Thursday, April 15, 2021
Oscar Nominees Luncheon
Final Oscar voting begins
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Final Oscar voting ends
Sunday, April 25, 2021
Winners announced at the 93rd Academy Awards (Oscars)
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