The nominations keep on coming and the Costume Designers Guild Awards are one of TV Ate My Wardrobe’s key celebrations of the year because they focus on excellence in costume design covering television, film and short form. Instead of one costume design category where period tends to reign supreme these TV and film awards are split into three separate groupings giving contemporary, period and fantasy their chance to shine. The awards will take place Tuesday, February 23 in a ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and if it is anything like last year then it will be a very glamorous affair.
We’re going to discuss who has been nominated and the names of those we would also have loved to see get recognized. Plus a fun treat at the end as I was lucky enough to get to see one nominee’s creations up close last year and now is the perfect time to share those photos.
Here is the full list of nominees:
Outstanding Contemporary Television Series
American Horror Story: Hotel – Lou Eyrich
Empire (Season 1) – Rita McGhee
House of Cards – Johanna Argan, Kemal Harris
Ray Donovan – Christopher Lawrence
Transparent – Marie Schley
Outstanding Period Television Series
The Knick – Ellen Mirojnick
Mad Men – Janie Bryant, Tiffany White Stanton
Masters of Sex – Isis Mussenden
Outlander – Terry Dresbach
Penny Dreadful – Gabriella Pescucci
Outstanding Fantasy Television Series
Game of Thrones – Michele Clapton
Once Upon a Time – Eduardo Castro
Sleepy Hollow (Season 2) – Kristin M. Burke, Mairi Chisholm
Sleepy Hollow (Season 3) – Mairi Chisholm
The Wiz Live! – Paul Tazewell
Excellence in Contemporary Film
Beasts of No Nation – Jenny Eagan
Joy – Michael Wilkinson
Kingsman: The Secret Service – Arianne Phillips
The Martian – Janty Yates
Youth – Carlo Poggioli
Excellence in Period Film
Brooklyn – Odile Dicks-Mireaux
Carol – Sandy Powell
Crimson Peak – Kate Hawley
The Danish Girl – Paco Delgado
Trumbo – Daniel Orlandi
Excellence in Fantasy Film
Cinderella – Sandy Powell
Ex Machina – Sammy Sheldon Differ
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 – Kurt and Bart
Mad Max: Fury Road – Jenny Beavan
Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Michael Kaplan
Excellence in Short Form Design
“And So It Begins,” Old Spice Commercial – Mindy Le Brock
From the Makers of Happy & Merry, H&M Presents Katy Perry Commercial – B. Åkerlund
The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth – Dance Battle, Video Game, Kaboom/Warner Interactive Commercial – Soyon An
Kevin Spacey, E-Trade Commercial – Johanna Argan
“Most Interesting Man in the World Wins on Land, Sea & Air,” Dos Equis Commercial – Julie Vogel
Last year fantasy and period costuming were grouped together when it came to the TV nominees and mini-series/made for TV movie took up the third space. Splitting fantasy and period makes so much sense to me giving a broader scope especially when considering the volume and quality of period shows. Sleepy Hollow does have two nominations in fantasy because there have been two different costume designers (Kristin M. Burke and Mairi Chisholm) at the helm over this voting period and it is about time that this show got some recognition for the incredible collection of contemporary, period and monster attire. The other standout and the show to beat is Game of Thrones and as this is Michele Clapton’s final season this also gives her an added boost.
The period category is where a lot of the big hitters are including Janie Bryant and Tiffany White Stanton for Mad Men’s last hurrah (and another excuse to post a photo of my overall costuming highlight from 2015), Masters of Sex wobbled this year story wise, but the costuming didn’t dip in quality and The Knick is just as mesmerizing from a wardrobe point of view as it is from the way it is lit (and anyone who reads my Twitter feed knows how much I love the lighting). I still need to watch Outlander (I know) and while I couldn’t get on with Penny Dreadful it is easy to see why it has been nominated.
As far as shows I would love to see get recognized when it comes to period attire The Americans is top of that list as Jenny Gering managed once again to weave the spy wear with the at home styling so effortlessly and in a way which really informs the story without feeling like an anthology of everything 80s. Fargo is the other one I am disappointed to see not on the list as Carol Case produced some exceptional work. The same can be said about Giovanna Melton’s work on Agent Carter and this is one of the many examples of a show which could easily straddle two different categories as it can also be counted as a fantasy.
The biggest disappointment for me personally comes in the contemporary offerings and while they are all solid choices – American Horror Story: Hotel is another one which could be defined as more than one genre – I can’t help but feel Christopher Hargadon has been sorely overlooked for his work on Hannibal. Comedy has also been mostly ignored and there are plenty of sitcoms, half hours and those hard to define shows like Orange is the New Black missing out with only Transparent taking up that space. Jenn Rogien for Girls and OITNB, Broad City’s Staci Greenbaum, Wendy Benbrook for You’re the Worst and The Mindy Project’s pattern clashing king Salvador Perez are a few of the comedy options who I would have liked to see up for this award.
Moving on to the film options; Joy and The Danish Girl are two films I watched this week and while I didn’t love either one the costuming is a high point in both. I’m also really pleased to see The Martian up for an award as I’m still thinking about the various pieces of NASA apparel, plus the actual space suits and everything back on earth. It’s no surprise seeing either Carol or Brooklyn in the period category (both of which received a BAFTA nomination this morning) and I’ve been pretty obsessed with all things Carol since I saw it in November.
Fantasy is what really excites me film wise this year especially as most of these will sadly not cross over into Oscars territory; although much to my delight Mad Max is up for a BAFTA. Once again Kurt and Bart delivered big on The Hunger Games even if this one is less decadent and grimier than the other installments. When I saw Star Wars for the second time this week I was once again struck by costume details from Rey’s long gloves on top of gloves to Kylo Ren’s cape and there is so much going on that informs character. Ex-Machina is the little movie that could and yeah I think this is a good time to post this gif showcasing some of the simple, but super effective dancing attire.
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Sandy Powell is a double nominee (both here and at the BAFTAs) for two Cate Blanchett movies (Carol and Cinderella) and while I haven’t watched Cinderella I was lucky enough to see the costumes up close and personal at an exhibition in London last March and you can see the photos from that in the gallery below.
For the nominees and winners from last year’s 17th Costume Designers Guild Awards head here and check back in to find out the winners of the 18th Costume Designers Guild Awards next month.
TV Ate My Wardrobe 
