2023 Oscars: A Review of Fashion
Written by Annelise McDonald
Oscar Nominees for Costume Design (left to right: Babylon (Mary Zophres), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Ruth E. Carter), Elvis (Catherine Martin), Everything Everywhere All At Once (Shirley Kurata), Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (Jenny Beavan)
The world of fashion and film often intersect, and costume design plays a crucial role in enhancing the cinematic experience for audiences and inspiring fashion trends and style statements. This past year saw some exceptional work in the field of costume design, with many talented designers receiving recognition for their contributions to the film industry.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the most notable Oscars and Costume Designers Guild Award (CDGA) film awards given to costume designers in the past year and the groundbreaking work that earned them these accolades.
Ruth E. Carter - Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Ruth E. Carter is a name that has become synonymous with exceptional costume design in the entertainment industry. Throughout her illustrious film career, Ruth has been nominated for the “Academy Award For Best Costume Design” four times. In 2023, Carter took home her second “Academy Award for Best Costume Design” for Marvel’s blockbuster film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Carter is the first Black woman to win in the category for “Best Costume Design” and the first Black woman to win multiple Academy Awards in any category.
Carter’s elaborate costume designs are the product of extensive research and planning. For the Black Panther films, she studied the traditional practices and looks of different African tribes, then skillfully integrated those elements into her work. Carter then incorporated Afro-futuristic elements into the final pieces. Afro-future is a common theme in every look in the Black Panther films and in many of her other works.
With an impressive portfolio that includes films such as Malcolm X, Amistad, and Selma, Carter's work has been a critical component in bringing some of the most important stories to life on the big screen. Her designs for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever were no exception, as she successfully created costumes that were culturally significant, visually stunning, and helped to convey the complex narrative of the film.
Carter's passion for storytelling through costume design has spanned over three decades, during which she has created some of the most memorable and iconic costumes in cinematic history. Her ability to bring to life characters with intricate costumes that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing has earned her a reputation as a trailblazer in the industry.
Shirley Kurata: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Shirley Kurata is a well-known fashion stylist and costume designer who has worked on a variety of prominent projects across the fashion, music, and entertainment industries. Kurata was born in Japan and grew up in Southern California. She studied graphic design before transitioning to a fashion styling and costume design career. Some of the projects that Kurata has worked on include designing costumes for the feature film Emma, Love & Sex, and Seoul Searching. She has also styled celebrities including Billie Eilish, Lena Dunham, Pharrell Williams, Mindy Kaling, and Zooey Deschanel.
In addition to her work as a stylist and costume designer, Shirley Kurata is also known for her unique personal style, which is often described as playful, eclectic, and vintage-inspired. She is known for her use of bold colors, patterns, and accessories, and her ability to mix high-end designer pieces with thrift store finds.
This year, Kurata was awarded the Costume Designer Guilds Award in the category “Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film” for Everything Everywhere All at Once. She has also been named one of the most stylish people in Los Angeles by several publications, including LA Weekly and Los Angeles Magazine.
Shirley Kurata is successful because she is passionate about her work and is constantly pushing herself to try new things and explore new ideas. Her willingness to take risks and experiment with different styles and approaches has helped her to stay relevant and innovative in an industry that is constantly evolving.
Catherine Martin: Elvis
Catherine Martin is an Australian production designer, set designer, costume designer, and film producer. Martin began her career as a set designer and costume designer in the theater industry in Australia, where she worked on numerous productions. She then moved into film and has since designed sets and costumes for a variety of notable films, including Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!, and The Great Gatsby. In addition to her work in film, she has also designed sets and costumes for opera productions and other live performances.
Martin has won numerous awards for her work, including four Academy Awards for Best Art Direction and two Academy Awards for “Best Costume Design,” making her the most awarded Australian in Academy Award history. She has also received several Tony Awards and a BAFTA Award for her work in theater and film.
Martin won the CDGA award for “Excellence in Period Film for the film,” Elvis. In this project, Martin worked with Elvis Presley's estate and studied the holdings at Graceland, Presley’s Memphis, Tennessee home. For this film, she worked on embellishing 36 unique jumpsuits for Austin Butler, who plays Elvis in the movie.
Martin is also an advocate for environmental sustainability and has incorporated sustainable practices into her design work, including the usage of recycled materials.
Mary Zophres: Babylon
Mary Zophres is a highly acclaimed costume designer in the film industry, with a career spanning over three decades. She is known for her meticulous attention to detail and ability to create costumes that perfectly capture the spirit of a character or era. Zophres worked on a number of high-profile movies, including True Grit, Hail, Caesar!, Interstellar, Gangster Squad, Catch Me If You Can, and The Big Lebowski.
Zophres has been nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Costume Design, for her work on True Grit, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and Gambit. One of Zophres' most well-known projects is the 2016 musical film La La Land, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for “Best Costume Design.” She worked closely with the film's director, Damien Chazelle, to create costumes that reflected the film's nostalgic, dreamlike tone. In addition, she has also been nominated for a BAFTA Award, a Costume Designers Guild Award, and an Art Directors Guild Award.
She has recently been nominated for the 2023 Golden Globes Award for her latest film, film, Damien Chazelle's old Hollywood epic Babylon. In total, Babylon features some 7,000 costumes.
"I was possessed when I did this movie," Zophres says. "But I think we all were. It was like this monumental challenge, and it was fun and creative and exhilarating and exhausting — all those things. It was definitely the most challenging and most rewarding film I've ever done.”
Zophres earned her fourth Oscar nomination for “Best Costume Design” for her work on Babylon. "It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience working on this film filled with such dedicated and talented creatives," she said of the nomination. "My fabulous team created thousands of unique pieces to bring Damien’s tale of old Hollywood to life and we couldn’t be prouder of the final film."
Jenny Beavan: Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
Jenny Beavan is an English costume designer who has been nominated for the Academy Award for “Best Costume Design” twelve times, winning three awards for the movies A Room With A View, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Cruella. Throughout her career, Beavan has designed costumes for over 60 films in addition to designing for stage productions and opera.
Beavan was nominated for the 2023 Academy Awards “Best Costume Design” category for her work in Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris. In this film, she was tasked with re-creating extravagant midcentury Christian Dior couture gowns. Dior’s enduringly influential design serves as a central plot device in the Anthony Fabian-directed fashion fable and, nonetheless, Beavan’s design skills captured the essence of these original gowns flawlessly. Beavan spent hours analyzing Monsieur Dior’s sketches, fabric samples, runway show notes, and precious garments on her trip to the Dior archive and Paris.
“I thought I was going to be working with Dior, that they would be doing the Dior part of it — what I hadn’t quite realized was that I would be doing the Dior part,” says Beavan.
“I wanted to honor Dior,” says Beavan. “I wanted to make sure it did not look like a Jenny Beavan attempt at Dior. I really, really wanted people to just believe and not worry about it.” Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris pays homage to haute couture and Christian Dior — all thanks to Beavan’s magical abilities to replicate these iconic gowns and weave a narrative that brings the storyline to life.
