2021 Oscar Predictions: COSTUME DESIGN (February)

Costume Design has a lot of consistencies as a category, but not necessarily good ones. Period pieces, be they bodice rippers, the fantasy realm, the Old West, gowns of the 1920s and 30s or petticoats on petticoats are what we often, if not always, see populate it year after year.

There is rarely, if ever, room for anything contemporary. You can go back 30+ years and find just a few contemporary films to earn a nomination here. 2016’s La La Land was the perceived Best Picture frontrunner and managed a record-setting 14 nominations that year (costume designer Mary Zophres lost to Colleen Atwood, who won her fourth that year for the first Fantastic Beasts film). 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada also earned a nomination and had the backdrop of the fashion industry itself behind. But we finally have a potential contender once again for a nomination coming from a very contemporary film: Promising Young Woman.

While Emerald Fennell’s blistering screenplay for the film has been gobbling up critics’ awards, the costume design by Nancy Steiner tells an equally compelling story of mood, intent and tone, perhaps more so than any other contender this year. Whether it’s business attire to lure men into her trap or candy colored innocence or Kardashian on a budget evening wear, Carey Mulligan’s costuming as Cassandra takes the audience on a visual journey. It landed both a BFCA nomination and on the BAFTA longlist last week so the cogs are in place.

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey makes a big comeback on the strength of its Oscar shortlist showing in other categories. In a category that love, I mean loves, its former winners and nominees, Michael Wilkinson (American Hustle) stands a very good chance here.

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

Green – moves up ↑; Red – moves down ↓; Blue – new or re-entry this month +; Black – no change ↔

1. Mank ↔ (Netflix) – BAFTA longlist, BFCA
Trish Summerville

2. Emma. ↔ (Focus Features) – BAFTA longlist, BFCA
Alexandra Byrne

3. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom ↑ (Netflix) – BAFTA longlist, BFCA

Ann Roth

4. News of the World ↑ (Universal Pictures) – BAFTA longlist

Mark Bridges

5. Mulan ↑ (Walt Disney Pictures) – BAFTA longlist, BFCA
Bina Daigeler

6. Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey ↑ (Netflix)

Michael Wilkinson

7. The Personal History of David Copperfield ↔ (Searchlight Pictures) – BFCA
Suzie Harman, Robert Worley

8. Ammonite ↔ (Neon) – BAFTA longlist

Michael O’Connor

9. The Trial of the Chicago 7 ↔ (Netflix) – BAFTA longlist
Susan Lyall

10. Promising Young Woman ↑ (Focus Features) – BAFTA longlist, BFCA

Nancy Steiner

Other Contenders

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) + (Warner Bros)
Erin Benach

Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)

Donna Berwick

The Glorias (Roadside Attractions)

Sandy Powell

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

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

Rebecca (Netflix) – BAFTA longlist

Julian Day

The United States vs. Billie Holiday ↓ (Hulu) – BAFTA longlist
Paolo Nieddu

Image courtesy of Focus Features

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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), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) 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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