Oscars 2012: Best Costume Design

Note: This is my personal ranking, listed in order from best to worst, with #1 being my favorite. Prediction for the actual winner is in orange.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

1. THE ARTIST

2. JANE EYRE

3. W.E.

4. HUGO

5. ANONYMOUS

Missing: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Let’s just get this out of the way now: The Artist is going to win. The Costume Guild Awards winners won’t be announced until February 21st, but the silent film has already swept various awards, including BFCA Critics’ Choice Award for Best Costume Design. Mark Bridges considered Joan Crawford when helping create the silent  film actress character of Peppy Miller, as both women share a similar career arc, and he took inspiration from  John Gilbert and Douglas Fairbanks for George Valentin’s look. Though Bridges (The Fighter, There Will Be Blood) has never before been nominated for an Oscar, it’s clear that his ability to use fabrics, textures and even colors that translate exceptionally into black and white, coupled with the fact that the 1920s glam Hollywood fashion of furs, flappers and feathered headpieces is total Oscar bait, will win him his first gold guy.

While I didn’t take too kindly to the critically-acclaimed adaptation of Jane Eyre, there’s no denying the gorge costumes: even the primmest of Ms. Eyre’s dressing gowns are beautifully detailed with delicate lace trim, silk flower embroidery and satin lace-up boots. Michael O’Connor, who won an Oscar in 2008 for Keira Knightley vehicle, The Duchess, is officially our go-to guy for highly researched, authentic Victorian fashion.

Naturally the Material Girl would call upon Arianne Phillips, who designed four tours and seventeen music videos for the pop star, to costume her period drama, W.E.. Nominated once before for Walk the Line, Phillips is responsible for one of the two redeeming features of the otherwise dreadful film (the other being the vibrant Andrea Riseborough’s dedicated performance as the titular Wallis). The Duke of Windsor was one of the most stylish royals, and with the collaboration of Dunhill, Phillips was able to create his iconic high-waisted day suits and the famous navy tails, and of course all those fabulous couture outfits that the fashionable Wallis was known for.

Though many have placed Hugo in a solid position for spoiling The Artist‘s chances here, it doesn’t seem likely despite its period garb and fanciful silent-movie (within the movie) costumes. This marks three-time winner and frequent Scorcese collaborator Sandy Powell’s tenth nomination, and after her rather tasteless acceptance speech for her The Young Victoria win two years ago, I rather hope the Academy will reward a fresher face. Y’know: one that’s not “feeling so greedy.”

And I’ve saved the best for last: who in their right mind thought Roland Emmerich’s melodramatic, sepia-toned, sloppy Shakespearean flick would be nominated for anything? My friend ACT and I sure didn’t, which is why we had some fun by timing our DVD viewings so that we could live-comment on the film, resulting in the only tolerable (and tipsy) way of viewing Anonymous. While we were both quite found of a rather impish white, sparkly number donned by super-actor, Mark Rylance (why is he in this film?), first-time nominee Lisy Christl didn’t exactly wow us with her derivative takes on Elizabethan dress. Shakespeare in Love (Sandy Powell) and Elizabeth (Alexandra Byrne) are better examples of the period by far, both earning their costume designers well-deserved Oscars. Better luck next time, Roland.

2011 Tony Awards: Best Costume Design of a Musical

Note: My personal rankings are listed in order from best to worst, with #1 being my favorite, while predictions for the actual winners will be in orange.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

1. The Book of Mormon

2. Anything Goes

3. Priscilla Queen of the Desert

4. How to Succeed in Business without Really trying

Missing: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Sure, Tony voters are just as conservative as Oscar voters, but that’s not the reason Priscilla Queen of the Desert doesn’t top my list. Priscilla, of course, is not an original story — it’s based on the 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert – and so, quite naturally, the characters and plot are familiar to us. But that’s not the only thing you’ll recognize in the stage show — the sassy, glittery, super-shiny, neon, hilariously over-the-top drag couture are by the same team who designed the film’s Oscar-winning costumes: Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner. I’m not even going to attempt to understand why certain shows/designs are eligible for Tonys and others aren’t (the rules and regulations of Tony eligibility are so vague that they may as well not even exist), and far be it for me to rain on all over Priscilla‘s fabulousness (because she is fabulous), but so much of this costume design is taken right out of the film (flip-flop dress and all!) that I can’t quite understand how this a “mostly” original design.

When I knocked Priscilla‘s ranking down a couple pegs because of this, I realized that there’s only one nominated design nominated from an entirely new show. A single designer had the additional challenge — and creative freedom — of imagining an completely original design. Ann Roth’s contribution to The Book of Mormon is both well researched and intensely funny: Ugandans create play costumes out of found objects (feed-bag bonnets and baby-carriage-wheel halos); sparkly, stretchy, candy-apple-red devils infiltrate a cracked-out nightmare sequence and a cartoonish Jesus, resembling rocker Sebastian Bach, boasts flowing blonde locks and a robe piped with LED lights. Roth has no shot at winning, of course  – her designs are nowhere near as dramatic as Priscilla‘s, nor as, well, period as Anything Goes — but she more than deserves recognition for how perfectly her costumes reflect the riotous “Fuck You, God” attitude of Mormon.

Anything Goes is the safest bet here. It’s not the over-the-top camp of Priscilla, the cheeky cartoonishness of Mormon or Catherine Zuber’s competent, dancer-friendly ’60s attire of How to Succeed – instead, the Cole Porter tuner was stylishly brought to fabulous ’30s life by Martin Pakledinaz with empire-waist sailor trousers, peep-toed platforms, creamy mid-calf-length skirts and winking, sequined-flamed tap numbers for “Blow, Gabriel, Blow.” Seamlessly elegant, Pakledinaz brought class and cleverness to the classic comedy.

All that being said, had I the choice and the opportunity, I’d cast my vote for Emily Rebholz’s contemporary-historic mash-up of early 1900s and early 2000s trends in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. As with the rest of the show’s design, her hip costumes were irreverent, postmodern perfection.

2011 Tony Awards: Best Costume Design of a Play

Note: My personal rankings are listed in order from best to worst, with #1 being my favorite, while predictions for the actual winners will be in orange.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY

1. Born Yesterday

2. La Bête

3. The Merchant of Venice

4. The Importance of Being Earnest

Missing: The Normal Heart, War Horse

How interesting that all the nominees are revivals (and not quite as interesting that they’re all period pieces) — no love for Jerusalem (Ultz’s trailer trash trappings) or War Horse (Rae Smith’s crisp uniforms and the warm-toned wear for the puppeteers). For some reason, I cannot get over (read: am obsessed with) Joe Mantello’s perfectly worn, loose-fitting grey cardigan in The Normal Heart, and wish, for that item alone, that Martin Pakledinaz had been nominated (he’s up for his seaworthy costumes for Anything Goes, however).

Out of the actual nominees, however, one design completely enraptures. In Born Yesterday, Catherine Zuber (whose penchant for period costumes can also be seen in Tony-nominated work for 60s satire How to Succeed) drapes the winning Nina Arianda’s Billie in ostentatiously lush 1940s fashion. Initially flaunting herself in feathery, flowing lingerie as the flirtatious ex-chorine, Billie’s brains may be transformed by her tutor Paul Verrall through the course of the show, but it’s Zuber’s smart costumery that makes Billie’s transformation visually apparent. Maintaining a stunning elegance, Billie commands confidence with each step she takes in fire-engine-red skirt-suits and  bold empire-waist navy trousers. This is a gorgeously costumed show all-around.

Truth be told, I missed seeing La Bête, which by most accounts was worth the trip solely for super-star-of-the-moment Mark Rylance’s fabulously funny and vulgar Valere. That being said, Mark Thompson’s design (he’s also the scenic designer) that is alternately foppish and dashing in its ornate 17th century French fashion appears to be a standout as well.

Jess Goldstein’s (Next Fall, The Homecoming, Jersey Boys) period pieces for The Merchant of Venice aren’t as period as you may think, suggesting, at times, the play’s setting to be somewhere around the turn of the 20th century. The men sport smooth pinstripe suits, while the women don the more conservative, though brightly hued and lushly textured, pieces of Shakeseare’s day. Considering Mark Wendland’s period-vague skeletal set, it seems right to mix and match the contemporary with the classic.

There’s nothing wrong with Desmond Heeley’s costumes for the Wildean comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, which marks the 79-year-old designer’s eighth Broadway credit in 50 years (he’s also the set designer for the production).  A Tony Award winner for his scenic and costume designs for the original production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Heeley has a clear fondness for period pieces and this is no exception: Brian Bedford’s Lady Bracknell wears fussily ornate high collars and elaborately ruffled headdresses, and the rest of the cast is clothed in quietly unassuming, yet lovely, 19th century attire. Like the production as the whole, Heeley’s design does the job, but lacks any kind of innovation or surprise.

Oscars 2011: Best Costume Design

Note: This is my personal ranking, listed in order from best to worst, with #1 being my favorite. Prediction for the actual winner is in orange.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

1. True Grit

2. I Am Love

3. The King’s Speech

4. Alice in Wonderland

5. The Tempest

Missing: Black Swan

I’m still unclear regarding the Black Swan scandal (two of the designers were ineligible because they were not members of the guild, but the supervising designer is a guild member, so…), but regardless, the tulle tutus and freaky feathery swan monster at the end of the film deserved recognition for their striking design.  Instead, the Julie Taymor-Sandy Powell collaboration swiped a spot for what can only be described as Elizabethan punk — black leather, silver metal zippers, studs by the hundreds — for The Tempest, which looks only slightly more visually cohesive than Taymor’s Spiderman. The Tempest was only in theaters for a hot minute, which means few saw it — including me (shame) — thus ensuring that the Academy all but ignores it come voting time.

My aversion to Tim Burton & co.’s dreary visual design extends to Colleen Atwood’s dark-fantasy Barbie-esque costumes. While some predict Alice in Wonderland could be the upset here, the blurred lines between costume and CGI may give members pause when casting their votes. As per usual, it’s safe to bet on Bertie: The King’s Speech‘s gorgeous mid-twentieth century royal attire is complete with lush fabrics and fine furs, ensuring its place in the hearts and votes of the “historical period piece”-obsessed Academy.

That leaves us with the two underdogs: the opulent upper-class Milanese costumes of I Am Love and the, well, gritty western garb of True Grit.  I Am Love is mesmerizing visually, in large part thanks to the sleek, modern lines and bold colors of the Hitchcock-inspired looks visually showcasing Tilda Swinton’s character’s transformation from a solemn Russian to a passionate Italian lover. But with only a costume nomination for the film (especially strange after Swanson received such great reviews for her performance), it’s unlikely to make a stand here. While True Grit has little to no chance of winning this, after taking a look at the video below, its clear how vital the costuming is to this film. Designer Mary Zophres knows her history, and from Rooster’s eye patch to the silly fringed buckskin and layered petticoats and the white animal fur chaps (!), she didn’t fail to miss a single detail, even in the largest of crowd scenes. Zophres created these western misfits just as much as did Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfield, and co., but despite its period nature, the rough fabrics and dark shades of blacks and browns craft a design that is simply too rough to be fully appreciated without a second look.

Tony Awards 2010: Best Revival

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY

1. A View from the Bridge

2. Fences

3. Lend Me a Tenor

The Royal Family

The winner of this category is obvious (to this reviewer at any rate), but many will vote for the still-running, star-studded Fences.  Kenny Leon‘s (Best Direction nominee) production, while wonderful in so many ways, is flawed and id not the cohesive masterpiece that many claim it to be. There is the misstep in sound design (Best Sound Design nominee) that slows the pace and confuses the tone. But the real error involves the charismatic Denzel Washington (Best Leading Actor nominee): instead of tempering Troy Mason’s bravura with equal parts fear and rage, director Kenny Leons allows Washington to highlight the endearingly brash showman within Troy, causing the final significant scenes to peter off anti-climatically. But if Washington isn’t the revelation that everyone wants him to be, no matter: for that we have Viola Davis (Best Leading Actress Nominee), Stephen McKinley Henderson (Best Featured Actor nominee), and rest of the fantastic supporting cast, who each master their own moments of heartbreak, creating an affective, if not innovative, production.

Total Nominations: 10

Lend Me a Tenor is hit and miss, but mostly it misses. The hits: Jan Maxwell‘s (Best Featured Actress nominee) hilariously tempestuous Italian wife; Tony Shalhoub as the desperate, no-nonsense opera GM; Anthony Lapaglia’s dopey Italian tenor; the fantastically frantic and fun curtain call wherein the cast reenacts the entire show in two hilarious minutes… and the blackface?  Yep, the blackface is a definite highlight. The misses: Jay Klaitz’s obnoxious singing bellhop,  the miscast Brooke Adams as the pointless Chairman of the Opera Guild; Justin Bartha’s “singing”; and much of Ken Ludwig’s script which is not so funny as it is silly. For the most part, director Stanley Tucci does what he can to keep the production moving (lots of running in and out of and slamming of doors; constant flinging onto sofas and beds and chairs; repeated spitting of indiscernible items into the audience), but this farcical production simply isn’t as good as the company it keeps in this category.

Total Nominations: 3

How does Ken Ludwig even survive in a category that includes Arthur Miller? And a damn fine production of an Arthur Miller work at that. Director Gregory Mosher (nominee) takes a quiet approach to the tragic A View from the Bridge, carefully keeping in check emotions that could easily become high-pitched and overwrought (there is, after all, a Greek chorus present). The tone is low but warm, both visually and aurally (Best Sound Design nominee), letting the melancholy design reflect the quiet anguish simmering beneath the surface, and allowing the familial tension to gradually imbue the entire production. If there was a “Best Ensemble Cast” award it would certainly go to Liev Schrieber, Jessica Hecht, Scarlett Johansson (all nominated), and the rest of the superb supporting cast. Mosher’s A View from the Bridge comes to a slow boil, and when tragedy finally fells the Carbone family, you feel your very bones ache along with them in despair, making this View a masterful production of a master’s work.

Total Nominations: 6

The Royal Family (unseen)
Total Nominations: 5

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL

1. A Little Night music

2. La Cage aux Folles

3. Finian’s Rainbow

4. Ragtime

With a whopping eleven nominations, La Cage aux Folles‘s win here is pretty much guaranteed. The performances by both Kelsey Grammer and Douglas Hodge (Best Leading Actor nominees) have been widely praised, the costumes are absolutely fabulous (Best Costume nominee), the lighting is sexy and smart (Best Lighting nominee), choreography is cheeky and clever (Best Choreography nominee), and Terry Johnson (Best Direction nominee) smartly doesn’t get in the way of the inherent hilarity and endearing cast of characters; he simply allows those fabulous Cagelles to be What They Are, and What They Are in is a finely tuned production.

Total Nominations: 11

Tony voters’ runner- up would be my top pick. A Little Night Music is by far the most accomplished musical revived this year, and while Director Trevor Nunn’s production isn’t innovative, it’s tight and cohesive, both in direction and design (Best Sound Design nominee). The cast creates a terrific ensemble, including the always brilliant  and saucy Angela Lansbury (Best Featured Actress nominee), though decidedly excluding the shrill Ramona Mallory as the virginal Anne. All in all, a fine production of a fine musical.

Total Nominations: 4

The remaining two nominees each closed early after brief runs to mixed reviews, and so practically bow out of the running altogether. Ragtime was a mess of misguided minimalism (thanks to Best Direction nominee, Marcia Milgrom Dodge),  and Finian’s Rainbow should probably just be thankful it made it to Broadway in the first place (what an odd — and oddly delightful — obscure little musical).

Ragtime‘s Total Nominations: 6

Finian‘s Total Nominations: 3

Tony Awards 2010: Best Costume Design

It’s confession time: I didn’t see all the nominated shows. While I’m of course terribly shamed by this, I didn’t get the chance to see them all — some closed before the nominees were even announced. Alas, the first of these three missed productions  is included in the Costume Design category (just wait until Best Leading Actress in a play — that category is a complete mess of unseen performances). So bear with me!

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY

1. In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (David Zinn)

2. The Royal Family (Catherine Zuber)

3. Fences (Constanza Romero)

4. Lend Me a Tenor (Martin Pakledinaz)

All four nominees are technically period pieces (heck, the most contemporary, Fences, is set in the ’50s), they all stand a reasonably good chance at winning (voters love their period costumes, as we know). Of the four, Zinn’s designs for In the Next Room are the most luscious: rich detailing; gorgeous, vibrant colors; and endless layers of petticoats; the latter of which, of course, only adds to the hilarity as the Michael Cerveris’s Doctor Givings (nice name, by the way) attempts to pe

netrate (the puns are easy and endless, folks) the layers of fabric in order to “cure” the ladies of their supposed hysteria. However, based on the photo alone (to the right; alas, this is the production I missed, so I can’t vouch for design accuracy), I wouldn’t be surprised if Zuber takes home the Tony for her jewel-toned satin creations for The RoyalFamily. What would surprise is if either Fences‘s plain by comparison working-class garb or Lend Me a Tenor‘s less accomplished, though entirely workable, 1930s opera-wear took home the golden guy.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

1. La Cage aux Folles (Matthew Wright)

2. Fela! (Marina Draghici)

3. Memphis (Paul Tazewell)

Prior to curtain, Cagelles strutted down the aisles, mingled in the lobby, posed for pictures — with designer Valentino the night I attended — under the marquee. As one, clearly sewn into the skin-tight gorgeous royal blue bedazzled gown which beautifully emphasized every curve, “dahhhling”ed her way past us, my friend muttered enviously under her breath, “God, I’d kill for her body.” Admittedly, Matthew Wright had some outrageously fit, flexible, and fabulous men to design for in La Cage aux Folles, but dear lord, by the time he was done with them, “Half real and half fluff / You’ll find it tough guessing our gender,” indeed. They are what they are and what they are is the winner of Best Costume Design for a Musical.

Wonder why there’s only three nominees? I did too, and a friend informed me that Ragtime‘s nomination was withdrawn on May 13th after Tony overseers determined that Santo Loquasto’s designs, which were too similar to the original production’s (he designed for both the revival and original) were not eligible (for more info, read the Times article here). More baffling, though, is that  Memphis edged out the more deserving grungy  American Idiot (Andrea Lauer), lush A Little Night Music (David Farley), and gothic The Addams Family (MaryAnn D. Smith). While crafting perfectly fine 1950s attire, Paul Tazewell’s creations come in third, after the rebelliously piece-y, loudly vibrant prints of the Nigerian Afrobeat-inspired designs of Fela!‘s Marina Draghici.