FINAL 2024 Oscar Predictions: COSTUME DESIGN

One of the more competitive categories this season, the battle for costume design should be between Barbie and Poor Things, the only films to pick up any precursor wins.

As with production design, the two films sometimes competed in the same category, sometimes in different ones, the art directors guild put them together in fantasy film but the costume design guild split them.

At the CDG, Poor Things won for excellence in period film over fellow Oscar nominees Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon and Oppenheimer while Barbie won the sci-fi/fantasy film category. Then we have Poor Things with the BAFTA and Barbie with Critics Choice, which makes them truly neck and neck as each combo has a proven track record. Voters could easily hit the Poor Things button on both production and costume design, they’ve awarded both to the same film several times, including 2018’s Black Panther, 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road and 2013’s The Great Gatsby in the last decade.

Barbie could be at a unique advantage in that the costumes, while recreations of existing doll outfits, are intrinsically a part of the entire concept. Playing with Barbies meant playing dress up. That isn’t to say that Bella Baxter’s structured shoulder pieces, ruffles and detailed couture aren’t a part of her storytelling but they could be seen by voters as less a part of it, if that’s how they choose to vote. A disadvantage for Barbie though is that, despite competing in fantasy categories, when we’re not in Barbieland it’s set in the contemporary and features quite a lot of ‘normal’ costuming. That also could be enough for an Academy voter, who we know historically do not award contemporary costumes, to push the button for Bella’s more classically inspired period pieces.

Or voters just go Oppy crazy and we just need a bigger broom.

Here are my ranked final 2024 Oscar predictions for Costume Design.