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Costume Design Contenders for Oscar 2006

by Kristin Marino
Fashion School Review Columnist

December 22, 2006


The 2006 Academy Awards are over a month away, but award show buzz has already started with the recent announcement of the 2006 Golden Globe nominees. For those of us that follow fashion design, we look forward to the Oscars not only to see what designs will be worn on the red carpet, but what film will win the Award for Achievement in Costume Design.


Costume design is a demanding and exciting career, no doubt. Most fashion design schools offer courses in costume design. In fashion design school costuming classes, students learn the vocabulary and history of costume design while studying art, architecture, cinema, color theory, textiles, and history. Whether you choose a fashion design degree with a costume design minor or an MFA in costume design, you'll learn how to accurately represent the fashions from the dawn of man to present time.

A Winning Design Formula?
As far as Oscar is concerned, historical and fantasy films usually take the Academy Award cake. In 2003, the fantasy flick The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won the Oscar for Costume Design. The 2004 winner was the historical biopic about Howard Hughes, The Aviator. Again in 2005 a historical film took top Oscar fashion design honors when Memoirs of a Geisha won the costume design nod.

Looking to the Future of Costume Fashion Design
Other films nominated for costume design within the past few years also fall neatly into the historical or fantasy film genre, including: Girl With the Pearl Earring (2003), Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), and Walk the Line (2005). For 2006, there are several films that may very well get the Oscar stamp of approval for costume design. Some promising films include Nanny McPhee, The Black Dahlia, Idlewild, Bobby, and of course Marie Antoinette.

Sources
Costume Designers Guild
Academy Awards

About the Author
Kristin Marino is obsessed with haute couture, even though she lives in Reno, Nevada, where you can't even get Gucci or Louis Vuitton, let alone Jimmy Choo. She has a Bachelor of Art in English Composition from the University of Nevada.