Oscar 2023 Best Costume: Fashion Illustrations

A fashion sketch is how a designer starts giving life to its creation. Designers print down their imagination in the form of a design sketch and it all begins from there. Since the year is about to end, we decided to take the best costume design nomination from the academy award and see the inception of some great costume designs.

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1. The Revenant

Director Alejandro Iñárritu narrates a tale of survival with Leonardo DiCaprio playing the central character. The costume designer for the movie was Jacqueline West. For West, it was important to show the main character’s connect with nature. To show that connection, West was inspired with the idea of hooded monk.

2. Mad Max: Fury Road

Here is the Academy Award winner for the best costume design. The credit cannot be given alone to the costumes, it was a joint effort of costume, hair and makeup that gave the characters the desired look. The costume designer for the movie was Jenny Beavan.

3. The Danish Girl

The Danish Girl is a movie about transgender pioneer Lili Elbe and her wife. According to the costume designer Paco Delgado, the first instruction given to him by director Tom Hooper was, to think that that Lili (played by Eddie Redmayne) was a woman trapped in a man’s body and that body was like a jail for Lili. As Lili transits from male to female her costume transformation also gets evident.

4. Carol

Cate Blanchett plays the title character in this drama set in New York city during the early 1950s. Costume designer Sandy Powell designed the costume keeping in mind the effortless sophistication of Carroll.

According to Powell, “she (Cate Blanchett) had to look elegant and sophisticated but not intimidating compared to her character in Cinderella, so I wanted it to look as though it all came completely natural”. The designer was inspired by the colors seen in the street photography in 1950s New York. Cate Blanchett’s look in the movie is also Powell’s one of the favorite look.

She thought that the blond mink number compliment Blanchett very well and made her stand out when she meets Rooney Mara in the movie.

For Therese’s character, her evolution can be seen after she meets Carol in the movie. As peer the story line Therese does not have much interest in herself before she meets Carol. Later on she began to develop interest in herself and we can her costume started to have an influence from Carol. Her clothes are same as Carol’s but have been inspired by her.

5. Cinderella

Sandy Powell was also nominated for Best Costume Designer for this classic fairy tale. The lead character of Cinderella was played by Lily James.

Cate Blanchett plays the evil stepmother. And unlike Carol, Powell here had to make sure Blanchett is dressed to intimidate.

Therefore one can witness the character remains glamorous in each and every shot and has been perfectly dressed all the time.

For the stepsisters, Drisella (Sophie McShera) and Anastasia (Holliday Grainger), Powell tried to dress them identical but to have more flavours, chose different colors for each. Their costumes are more vibrant and fun to look at.

For Cinderella, Powell made sure to make her look simple but different. Like in the scene where Cinderella enters the ball in a wide blue gown, Powell made her wear an elaborate gown to make her look different but it was kept simple in terms of other elements like colors and embellishments.