20 Years of Oscar-Winning Costume Designs Illustrated

Whether it’s a historically accurate look, an elegant gown, or a cutting-edge super hero suit, good costume design has the ability to transport movie-goers to another place, another time, and sometimes another world. In the words of legendary costume designer, and 8-time Oscar-winner, Edith Head:

“What a costume designer does is a cross between magic and camouflage. We create the illusion of changing the actors into what they are not.

The 95th annual Academy Awards will be handed out on Sunday, March 12th at 6 pm and five movies will be vying to take home the Oscar for “Best Costume Design”. What many people might not know is that for the first 21 years of the Oscars, there wasn’t an award given out for this category. It wasn’t introduced until 1949, with Edith Head dominating the category for the next 30 years, garnering a staggering 35 nominations and 8 wins.

Over the last 20 years, films from a variety of genres have been honored with the “Best Costume Design” Oscar. Some costumes need blood and dirt to enhance the film’s narrative, like Janty Yates’ winning Gladiator (2000) designs. Some need to be historically accurate like Ann Roth’s, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020) and Sandy Powell’s, The Aviator (2004) designs. Some help create a fictional world like Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor did for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). Others just need to be beautiful, like the gorgeous Moulin Rouge (2001) costumes created by Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie.

To celebrate the 95th Academy Awards, USDish has created an illustration showcasing the last 20 years’ worth of Oscar-winning costume designs. (Click the image to see it in full in a new tab).

How many do you recognize?

So which movie will be the latest to join this illustrious group? We’ll find out when the Academy Awards airs on Sunday, March 12, 2023 on ABC. Here are this year’s nominees for “Best Costume Design”:

BABYLON — Mary Zophres
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER — Ruth Carter
ELVIS — Catherine Martin
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE —Shirley Kurata
MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS — Jenny Beavan

Marena Bronson is an award-winning journalist, a life-long nerd, and the Editor-in-Chief of Fashion and Fandom. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

H/T: USDish