Oscars 2023: Best Costume Design Predictions
We will update all our Oscar predictions throughout the season, so keep checking IndieWire for the latest news from the 2023 Oscar race. The nomination round of voting will take place from January 12 to January 17, 2023, with the official Oscar nominations announced on January 24, 2023. The final voting is between March 2 and 7, 2023. Finally, the 95th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 12 and air live on ABC at 8:00 p.m. ET/ 5:00 p.m. PT.
See our initial thoughts for what to expect at the 95th Academy Awards here.
The State of the Race
The Oscar chances for Best Costume frontrunners “Elvis,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Avatar: the Way of Water,” and “Babylon” have been shored up by the films’ nominations for the 25th Costume Designer Guild Awards.
The January 12 announcement of nominees for excellence in costume design in sci-fi/fantasy, period, and contemporary films also included “Hocus Pocus 2,” “Thor: Love and Thunder,” “Don’t Worry Darling,” “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” “The Woman King,” “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” “Nope,” “TÁR,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” and “Women Talking.” The CDGAs will be held February 27th at Fairmont Century Plaza.
Noteworthy omissions include Oscar winners Mark Bridges (“The Fabelmans”), Alexandra Byrne (“Empire of Light”), Sandy Powell (“Living”), and Ann Roth (“White Noise”). We’ll see if any of them sneak in among the Academy’s nominations — or, for that matter, if last year’s Best Costume Design winner, Jenny Beaven (“Cruella”), makes the cut for “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” a tour de force of 1950s haute couture revolving around the House of Dior.
As it stands, two-time Oscar winner Martin is the favorite for Baz Luhrmann’s delirious Elvis Presley biopic — especially with Austin Butler likely to win Best Actor for his charismatic performance as Presley. Martin creatively breaks down the King of Rock’s flamboyant wardrobes into ’50s teenage rebellion, ’60s Hollywood icon, and ’70s Vegas glam.
Two other previous winners have the inside track for aquatic-themed action-adventures: Ruth E. Carter (“Wakanda Forever”), who taps the ancient Mayan civilization with a touch of sea life for the underwater Talokan people in Ryan Coogler’s sequel; and Deborah L. Scott (“Avatar: The Way of Water”), who accomplishes a new convergence of costume design and world building for the Metkayina reef people in James Cameron’s sequel.
Meanwhile, the final two slots are looking good for Shirley Kurata (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) and Mary Zophres (“Babylon”). In the Daniels’ maximalist Best Picture contender, Kurata traces a multitude of characters in the complex multiverse. But her main focus was on the colorful and exotic costuming of mother and daughter Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu for their time-hopping kung fu fighting.
And Zophres delivers the greatest work of her career in Damien Chazelle’s magnum opus about Hollywood’s Bacchanalian coming of age in the late ’20s. Gathering costumes and fabrics from all over the country and Europe, she proceeded to fit 250 speaking parts and 7,000 background players. But the highlight was dressing Margot Robbie’s It girl Nellie LaRoy, including her unforgettable red party dress.
Frontrunners:
“Elvis” (Warner Bros.)
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (Marvel/Disney)
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” (A24)
“Avatar: The Way of Water” (20th Century/Disney)
“Babylon” (Paramount)
Contenders:
“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” (Focus Features)
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (Netflix)
“The Woman King” (Sony)
“Women Talking” (UA)
“Don’t Worry Darling” (Warner Bros.)