2021 Oscar Predictions: COSTUME DESIGN (October)

As with Makeup and Hairstyling, Eddie Murphy’s Coming 2 America makes a debut here in costume design, just not in the top 5…yet. But, they’re from Academy Award winner Ruth E. Carter so I’m not counting it out.

With Dune off the calendar, that opens a spot from last month and it’s getting filled by Focus Features’ Emma. although it might be fighting with Searchlight’s The Personal History of David Copperfield for that era of period piece finery.

I’m wondering about Netflix’s Rebecca remake and the gorgeous costuming by Julian Day. Day was criminally robbed of a nomination for Rocketman and the vibrant outfits worn by stars Lily James and Armie Hammer in the film may be too much to ignore this time. I’m popping it into the top 5 and dropping Death on the Nile as another potential casualty of this season. The flashy contemporary costuming of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie also joins the ranks and I wonder if Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom should be top 5…

Here are my ranked 2021 Oscar predictions in Costume Design for October.

Green – moves up; Red – moves down; Blue – new entry this month

1. Mank (Netflix)
Trish Summerville

2. Mulan (Walt Disney Pictures)
Bina Daigeler

3. Emma. (Focus Features)

Alexandra Byrne

4. Ammonite (Neon)
Michael O’Connor

5. Rebecca (Netflix)
Julian Day

Other Contenders (alphabetical)

Coming 2 America (Amazon Studios)
Ruth E. Carter

Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Donna Berwick

Death on the Nile (20th Century Studios)
Paco Delgado

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (20th Century Studios)
Guy Speranza

The Glorias (Roadside Attractions)
Sandy Powell

Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros)
Charlese Antoinette Jones

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
Ann Roth

News of the World (Universal Pictures)
Mark Bridges

One Night in Miami… (Amazon Studios)
Francine Jamison-Tanchuck

The Personal History of David Copperfield (Searchlight Pictures)
Suzie Harman and Robert Worley

Respect (MGM/UA)

Clint Ramos

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
Susan Lyall

The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Paramount Pictures)

Paolo Nieddu

The Witches (HBO Max)

Joanna Johnston

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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