An evening celebrating costume design sounds rather marvelous and the Costume Designers Guild hosted their annual ceremony last night with Shameless star Emmy Rossum as host. Mindy Kaling wore a beautiful custom made gown from Mindy Project costume designer* and president of the guild, Salvador Perez as she did the previous year.
*Several of Mindy’s coats from this season of The Mindy Project are custom Salvador Perez and I would love every single colorful houndstooth creation in my life.
Big winners include Michele Clapton for Game of Thrones and Jenny Eagan took home the contemporary TV costume design award for True Detective. Harrison Ford presented Aggie Guerard Rodgers with the career achievement accolade – the list of movies she has worked on is long and varied – and academic Dr. Deborah Nadoolman Landis received the inaugural Edith Head Award for the Advancement and Education of the Art of Costume Design. Naomi Watts was presented with the Lacoste Spotlight Award (Amy Adams was last year’s recipient) and Boyhood director Richard Linklater collected the Distinguished Collaborator honorary award.
Here is the full list of nominees with the winners highlighted:
OUTSTANDING CONTEMPORARY TELEVISION SERIES
House of Cards – Johanna Argan
Ray Donovan – Christopher Lawrence
Saturday Night Live – Tom Broecker, Eric Justian
Scandal – Lyn Paolo
True Detective – Jenny Eagan (Winner)
OUTSTANDING PERIOD/FANTASY TELEVISION SERIES
Boardwalk Empire – John Dunn
Game of Thrones – Michele Clapton (Winner)
The Knick – Ellen Mirojnick
Mad Men – Janie Bryant
Masters of Sex – Ane Crabtree
OUTSTANDING MADE FOR TV MOVIE OR MINI SERIES
American Horror Story: Freak Show – Lou Eyrich (Winner)
Houdini – Birgit Hutter
The Normal Heart – Daniel Orlandi
Olive Kitteridge – Jenny Eagan
Sherlock – Sarah Arthur
EXCELLENCE IN CONTEMPORARY FILM
Birdman – Albert Wolsky (Winner)
Boyhood – Kari Perkins
Gone Girl – Trish Summerville
Interstellar – Mary Zophres
Wild – Melissa Bruning
EXCELLENCE IN PERIOD FILM
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Milena Canonero (Winner)
The Imitation Game – Sammy Sheldon Differ
Inherent Vice – Mark Bridges
Selma – Ruth E. Carter
The Theory of Everything – Steven Noble
EXCELLENCE IN FANTASY FILM
Guardians of the Galaxy – Alexandra Byrne
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Bob Buck, Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 – Kurt and Bart
Into the Woods – Colleen Atwood (Winner)
Maleficent – Anna B. Sheppard, Jane Clive
EXCELLENCE IN COMMERCIAL COSTUME DESIGN
Army ‘Defy Expectations, Villagers’ – Christopher Lawrence (Winner)
Direct TV ‘Less Attractive’, with Rob Lowe – Mindy Le Brock, Jessica Albertson
Dos Equis ‘Most Interesting Man in the World Walks on Fire’ – Julie Vogel
Kia Soul Hamster Commercial Featuring ‘Animals’ – Anette Cseri
Smirnoff ‘The Mixologist’ – Laura Jean Shannon
A few quick thoughts with regards to the some of the winners and while there might not be the same wealth of fantasy on television as with film, the number is still relatively high and some quality work is missing out on getting recognized by the doubling down of period and fantasy in the same category. Game of Thrones would be hard to beat regardless of what category it was in, regardless it might be tome to broaden the number of categories. That is the hardest category for me in terms of picking a winner as all the work on these shows is not only excellent, but we cover several of them in extensive detail here. This is my only real grumble with the TV half of the awards and even when I think American Horror Story is a mess you can always count on the costume design of Lou Eyrich. Jenny Eagan didn’t manage the double and I loved her Olive Kitteridge work, but one out of two is pretty good.
In the film categories it isn’t surprising to see Colleen Atwood win for Into the Woods, although Kurt and Bart’s Mockingjay designs and how they tweaked Effie’s look in every scene is where my love lies. The period category is particularly difficult as all five are incredible in terms of costume design (and you can read my thoughts on the costumes of The Imitation Game here) and Milena Canonero continues her Grand Budapest Hotel winning streak; is the Oscar next? The grungy costuming of Emma Stone in Birdman was one of my favorite aspects of this movie and Birdman continues its award season hot streak with Albert Wolsky taking home the contemporary prize.
And because it is hard to resist a TV mother/daughter reunion here is Mad Men costume designer Janie Bryant with January Jones and Kiernan Shipka at the awards show.
TV Ate My Wardrobe 
A glaring omission in the period/fantasy TV noms is Terry Dresbach for Outlander. Her attention to detail on the costumes for that show is unparalleled. Hope to see her and the show represented next year!