The Oscar is one of the most prestigious awards in the film industry. Winners are selected in 24 categories, one of which is the award for best costume design. The 94th Academy Awards will take place on March 24th, so let's take a look back at who has won Oscars in the past for the most colorful and historically accurate movie outfits. 
1. Black Panther (2019) 
The costumes for Black Panther, directed by Ryan Coogler, were designed by costume designer Ruth E. Carter. She became the first African-American woman to win an Oscar for Best Costume Design. In addition to the complex and unusual costumes, the film featured a collared robe and crown created using 3D printing technology. Julia Kerner, an Austrian designer based in Los Angeles, helped create the crown and robe. Costume designers were inspired by traditional African tribes, their clothing and headdresses.
2. Grand Budapest Hotel (2015) 
The costumes for the Wes Anderson film were designed by Italian costume designer Milena Canonero. To create some of her looks, she collaborated with fashion giants such as Fendi and Prada. The costumes in the film stood out primarily due to their carefully chosen color palette. The spectacular wardrobe and its ability to reflect the individuality of each character earned Canonero another Oscar.
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2004) 
Costumes for the film by Peter Jackson were created by Nyla Dixon (Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit) and Richard Taylor. Dixon and Taylor's team put a lot of effort into creating different characters. For example, Dixon soon focused on hobbit looks inspired by 17th and 18th century fashion. Together, these designers have been nominated for more than 20 awards.
4. Alice in Wonderland (2011) 
The costumes for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland were designed by costume designer Colleen Atwood, with whom the director had already worked on other successful films. In addition to the eye-catching costumes, the artist paid great attention to the hairstyles and makeup that completed these spectacular images. The outfits were designed to highlight the "weirdness" of the characters. The only costume that remained "normal" was Alice's, as she was considered a "modern" character. One of the biggest challenges was working on her costume while the character's size kept changing throughout the film.
5. Marie Antoinette (2007) 
Milena Canonero's Marie Antoinette costume was inspired by a box of Laduree macarons given to her by director Sofia Coppola. The film is considered "the finest cinematic interpretation of the 18th century." Even though the story takes place in the 18th century, the costume designer tried to make it seem more modern and fashionable. According to the film's director, she was inspired by the New Romantic music movement, as well as the sketches created by John Galliano for Dior. The designer himself was inspired by Marie Antoinette and 18th century fashion.
6. Moulin Rouge! (2002) 
The costumes for Baz Luhrmann's film were designed by Catherine Martin and Angus Strathy, who were inspired by the real cabaret Moulin Rouge. In an interview with Vogue, costume designer Martin shared that she visited the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see collections from the period. While the costumes were historically accurate, the artists also made sure they were modern and appealing to today's audiences. It also turned out that there was an agreement between the designers not to use anything that did not belong to that time period.
7. Titanic (1998) 
Costume designer Deborah Lynn Scott, who worked on the James Cameron film, worked hard to bring the fashion of the time to life on screen. She read books on etiquette, trying to understand how people should behave and dress, and spent a lot of time restoring dresses and creating new ones from reclaimed fabrics and beads. For the actors who played third class passengers, costumes were ordered from around the world, since the characters were of different nationalities.
8. Golden Age (2008) 
The costumes for the film, directed by Shekhar Kapur, were designed by Alexandra Byrne. The designer tried to convey the character of Elizabeth I through her clothes, using as many details as possible. She added bright and saturated colors to the designs and silhouettes of the era to make the main character stand out from others. Despite the fact that the creators were inspired by real-life images of the queen, the color palette shown in the film differs from the one that Elizabeth I chose to wear in reality. In the film, viewers may see her wearing red, blue or yellow colors when in reality she preferred black and white colors.
9. Memoirs of a Geisha (2006) 
For Rob Marshall's film, costume designer Colleen Atwood drew inspiration from things she saw in museums and read in books; she also consulted with experts in the US and Japan. The film's characters wore kimonos made of silk and decorated with hand-made patterns. Each character was assigned a color palette that would help express who they were as individuals. In one of her interviews, Atwood shared that in order to tell the story, they had to “exaggerate things greatly,” even though they knew that geisha were much more sophisticated than they were shown.
10. Shakespeare in Love (1999) 
When creating the costumes for John Madden's film, costume designer Sandy Powell paid a lot of attention to colors. She used gold, blue and red, knowing how important color was in the Elizabethan period. At the time, to highlight the division between the classes, the queen regulated what the lower classes could or could not wear. These rules did not apply to the Queen, so the designer allowed herself to play with different colors, creating rich looks for her and contrasting costumes for those who belonged to the lower class.
11. Mad Max: Fury Road (2016) 
George Miller's film was especially praised for its costumes, created by designer Jenny Bevan, who has already been nominated for 10 Oscars and won two of them. The biggest challenge in creating the costumes was that they had to convey the personalities of the characters and at the same time be practical, not just aesthetically beautiful. For this reason, costumes were created using clothing items that would blend in with the entire landscape.
12. Little Women (2020) 
Thanks to Greta Gerwig's film, costume designer Jacqueline Durran became a two-time Oscar winner for best costume design. In one of her interviews, the designer said that she wanted not only to make sure that the costumes reflected the spirit of the 19th century, but also to show what each of the characters was like as individuals. One of the interesting things about the costumes in this film was that the characters shared some items of clothing with each other. One of the most prominent examples of this is Joe and Laurie, who wore the same gold-colored vest with a red pattern.
13. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2017) 
The costumes for the film, directed by David Yates, were created by Colleen Atwood, an American costume designer who won an Oscar three times for best costume design. Her challenge was to create a wardrobe that would reflect the 1920s period and also reveal the characters' personalities through their clothing. Atwood created at least 1,000 costumes for this film. She also had to spend time researching costumes for the extras and sourcing 1920s-style clothing from around the world. In one of her interviews, Atwood shared that the most difficult thing was creating the right image for the main character Newt Scamander to make him recognizable.
14. The Great Gatsby (2014) 
The costumes for Baz Luhrmann's film were designed by his wife, Australian costume designer and film producer Catherine Martin. The costumes were designed to reflect the fashions of the 1920s, but with a more modern style. Creating The Great Gatsby as we see it today meant overcoming several difficult challenges. As Martin shared in one of her interviews, despite the fact that the film takes place in New York, it was filmed in Australia. So all the scenery had to be created from scratch, without forgetting a single detail. When creating the costumes, it was important not only to create authentic and eye-catching clothing, but also to ensure that there were enough costumes for both the main actors and extras. It was revealed that Brooks Brothers provided 1,200 suits for the men alone, while Miuccia Prada designed 40 dresses for the supporting characters and several dresses for one of the main characters, Daisy.
15. Anna Karenina (2013) 
The costumes for Joe Wright's film were designed by Jacqueline Durran. Although the film is set in the 1870s, the designer was inspired by 1950s fashion, as well as famous fashion designers such as Cristobal Balenciaga and Christian Dior. While some of the costumes seem to lack period authenticity, this was dictated by the desire to create a more distinct character - with supporting characters wearing period-appropriate costumes.
16. Chicago (2003) 
To create the costumes for Rob Marshall's Chicago, Colleen Atwood not only had to be intimately familiar with the script and the era in which the story is set, but also be familiar with the actors and their characters. She spent a long time watching how the actors danced and moved during rehearsals. One of the challenges when creating the costumes was to make sure that they not only reflected the time and mood of the film, but also that they were comfortable to move in.
17. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1995) 
The colorful images for the film by Stefan Elliott were created by costume designers Lizzie Gardiner and Tim Chappell. The designers had to work on a tight budget, so they created these colorful and detailed costumes from cheap materials held together with hot glue. It was also revealed that the 150 pom-poms that were used in one of the film's key scenes were made by inmates at Long Bay Prison, as they required a lot of time to create, which the filmmakers did not have.
18. Dracula (1993) 
When directing the film, Francis Ford Coppola decided to shift the focus away from the sets and instead focus on the costumes, believing that they could set the mood for the entire film. To bring his idea to life, he invited designer Eiko Ishioka, who, despite not having much experience, created memorable costumes for the film. The costumes she created did not reflect previous adaptations of the characters, but instead she designed Dracula's outfits to show his transformation throughout the film.
19. Young Victoria (2010) 
The costumes for Jean-Marc Vallée's The Young Victoria were designed by Sandy Powell, who was tasked with creating lavish royal costumes while keeping budget constraints in mind, as well as the importance of lingerie. The designer said that she was inspired by portraits of Queen Victoria and her family, as well as information found in her diaries, where she talked in great detail about clothes. The costumes helped convey Queen Victoria's personality before and after she received the title. Her childhood outfits are shown as girly, with lots of lace, and later become more elegant and sophisticated.
20. Duchess (2009) 
The film about Georgina Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was directed by Saul Dibb, and the costumes were designed by English designer Michael O'Connor. The Duchess was already considered a style icon, and it was important for the creators to reflect this on screen. Important details from the life of the Duchess are also encrypted in the accessories worn by the characters, in particular the Duchess: when she is next to her abusive husband, you can see a tight velvet bandage around her neck, and when she is with her true love, she is wearing a loose pendant. The designer said that none of the details in the costumes appeared by chance or simply for the sake of beauty, since this woman was famous not only for her taste in clothing, but also for her individuality.
21. Gladiator (2001) 
Costume designer Jenty Yates shared that during the filming of Ridley Scott's film, the leading actor needed 12 sets of armor. For each set of armor, 8 copies had to be made, of which 4 for the actor and 4 for the stuntman, including “clean” and dirty armor for different scenes. This was not easy to do because the armor had to look real, but at the same time be comfortable. This is why many of the costumes were made of foam rubber, and the designers had to work hard to make the armor appear to be made of metal.
22. Artist (2012) 
The costumes for the black-and-white film directed by Michel Hazanavicius were created by American designer Mark Bridges. One of the most important details in this film was contrast: since the designer knew that the film would be in black and white, he had to play with bright shades to achieve the desired contrast between the outfits. At the same time, the designer shared in an interview that the costumes had to be created in both black and white and color, since “there was always a chance that the film would be seen in color.”
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