FINAL 2026 Oscar Predictions: COSTUME DESIGN
Great gowns, beautiful gowns. But really, they are. With a clean sweep of every precursor–BAFTA, Critics Choice and the Costume Designers Guild–Kate Hawley should sail to an easy victory here with Frankenstein barring a late surge for Sinners, which feels like that could be a common refrain in many categories in this final stretch.
Here are my final winner predictions in Costume Design for the 98th Academy Awards, which will take place on March 15, live at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California.
| 1. Frankenstein (Netflix) Kate Hawley | BAFTA, CCA, CDG |
| 2. Sinners (Warner Bros.) Ruth E. Carter | BAFTA, CCA, CDG |
| 3. Hamnet (Focus Features) Malgosia Turzanska | BAFTA, CCA, CDG |
| 4. Marty Supreme (A24) Miyako Bellizzi | |
| 5. Avatar: Fire and Ash (Walt Disney) Deborah L. Scott | CDG |
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.
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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