TV Ate My Wardrobe

The Costume Designers Guild 17th Award nominations have been announced and we are now fully into award season. The awards will take place Tuesday, February  17 and celebrate excellence in costume design across a variety of television, film and commercial categories. The division of categories means it isn’t just period costume that is given a place to shine (as it tends to be with the Oscars or BAFTAs) and some of TV Ate My Wardrobe’s most talked about and revered shows are on the list below.

Here is the full list of nominees:

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

OUTSTANDING PERIOD/FANTASY TELEVISION SERIES
Boardwalk Empire – John Dunn
Game of Thrones – Michele Clapton
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
Houdini – Birgit Hutter
The Normal Heart – Daniel Orlandi
Olive Kitteridge – Jenny Eagan
Sherlock – Sarah Arthur

EXCELLENCE IN CONTEMPORARY FILM
Birdman – Albert Wolsky
Boyhood – Kari Perkins
Gone Girl – Trish Summerville
Interstellar – Mary Zophres
Wild – Melissa Bruning

EXCELLENCE IN PERIOD FILM
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Milena Canonero
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
Maleficent – Anna B. Sheppard, Jane Clive

EXCELLENCE IN COMMERCIAL COSTUME DESIGN 
Army ‘Defy Expectations, Villagers’ – Christopher Lawrence
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

The fantasy/period television category leaps out at me because every single one is outstanding when it comes to costume design (among other things) and the intricate detail that is delivered by these costume designers helps transport the viewer to worlds that have existed in the past or previously on the page. The main disappointment here for me is the absence of The Americans as Jenny Gering creates various personas for Elizabeth and Philip to adopt in their spy disguises while grounding them in their regular American family attire all without screaming “It’s the 80s!”

In terms of the contemporary TV offerings it is Lyn Paolo’s work on Scandal that has not only impacted the way we think about how powerful women dress, but there has even been an affordable clothing line featured on the show and available at The Limited so the audience can have a little bit of Olivia Pope’s style in their life. For this very reason I am disappointed to see Daniel Lawson’s work on The Good Wife missing from the nominees as Alicia Florrick’s work wear is just as striking and Lawson also has his own line (which albeit is not quite as affordable, more splurge levels of purchase).

Salvador Perez’s is the costume designer on a show which features another successful career woman, but Mindy Lahiri’s style is nothing like Olivia Pope or Alicia Florrick; however The Mindy Project is no less deserving and this is another huge omission for me. The same goes for the incredible costumes on The Honourable Woman and Ed Gibbon would be one of my choices for the TV movie/mini-series category. And there is no show that does serial killer tailoring quite like Hannibal; three piece suits and plastic bespoke kill suits shouldn’t go this well together but Christopher Hargadon has done just that. Plus he also does the lady power dressing well from Alana’s bold patterns, Freddie’s court attire to Bedelia’s silk blouses.

Congratulations to Jenny Eagan for the double nomination for True Detective and Olive Kitteridge. If only I could wear Zoe Kazan’s giant frames from the latter and pull them off.

Movie wise I don’t have too much to grumble about and The Imitation Game inspired TV Ate My Wardrobe to dip my toes into film costume design analysis; I have yet to see Inherent Vice and Selma (they are both on my list) but this is a strong category. Yesterday I watched The Theory of Everything and it covers all my 60s/70s dress and knitwear coveting areas and The Grand Budapest Hotel is striking in its heightened realism.

Trish Summerville created some of my favorite costumes in 2013 with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and her work was no less striking for a contemporary drama for Gone Girl as I’m still thinking about Amy’s black and white collar dress. Kurt and Bart took over from Trish Summerville on The Hunger Games and they showed how Effie can still be super stylish when all she has is drab grey and no wigs to work with.

Congratulations to all the nominees and I look forward to February 17 to see who picks up the awards.

For the nominees and winners from the TV categories at last year’s 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards head here.

Tags: Ane Crabtree, costume design, Costume Designer Guild Awards, Daniel Lawson, Ed Gibbon, Game of Thrones, Janie Bryant, Jenny Eagan, Jenny Gering, Kurt and Bart, Lyn Paolo, Mad Men, Masters of Sex, Salvador Perez, Sammy Sheldon, Scandal, Steven Noble, The Americans, The Good Wife, The Honourable Woman, The Imitation Game, The Mindy Project, Trish Summerville