BENGALURU: If last year’s Oscar nominees for best costumes were all about grand period set pieces, high couture as well as traditional authenticity, 2015’s celluloid outfits stress on their fantastical elements, quirk factor, hipster chic, uber-cool vibe as well as a pop colour palette. We bring you a look of this year’s nominees for best costume design.
Into the Woods
Meryl Streep’s glam blue-haired witch is probably one of the most remarkable looks sported by the actor after her brilliant transformation into Julia Child in the 2009 Julie and Julia. And the woman behind her spectacular makeover from evil crone to a beauty is three-time Academy award-winning designer, Colleen Atwood. Known for her adept handling of a fantasy canvas, she has to bring to the screen, the well-known characters of Cinderella, Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood among others, making them recognizable and yet reinventing them at the same time through a careful mix and match between vintage styles and fabrics and modern techniques.
Maleficent
For me, two of Angelina Jolie’s most standout looks have been as the crimson-lipped supermodel Gia and now as the evil 2014 villainess, Maleficent. Never has any evil fairy dazzled in her darkness and even with curling horns on her head, magnificent wings sprouting out of her back and an all black and grey wardrobe, she is the powerful queen of the night, the doom of the kingdom of light and a very pagan goddess-like creature brought to life with edgy costumes designed by Anna B. Sheppard.
Inherent Vice
The design ethos of this crime drama was well conceptualised by Mark Bridges as he brought to life the seamier underbelly of various characters as well as the wealthy sophistication of 70s Los Angeles through their carefully crafted looks. Ranging from hippie chic to tie-n-dye, crochets, floral prints, bright and sexy minis, vintage army jackets, pin-striped pants and posh monokinis, Bridges has covered them all as well as created iconic looks for the actors.
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Italian costume designer Milena Canonero is quite the veteran in visualising filmmaker Wes Anderson’s splendid and picturesque universe with all its quirks and winsome colour palettes. The Grand Budapest Hotel is one such self-contained universe with its very unique style quotient. From the retro purple uniforms of the hotel staff to their jaunty tilted caps, from the glamorous furs and capes of its wealthy patrons to their matched and perfectly sized luggage, this film pays attention to minutiae and creates a wonderful imaginary world of 1930’s Europe in shades of candy pink and peach.
Mr. Turner
Jacqueline Durran worked closely with the film’s production designer to recreate the 18th-19th century-era looks as well as match them to the lush romantic canvas created by the artist J.M.W Turner himself. The film’s tone is soft-hued and Turner’s own look is derived from his self portraits. The final result, a perfect onscreen rendition of inspirational brushstrokes.