The Academy Award for Best Costume Design is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) for achievement in film costume design.
The award was first given in 1949, for films made in 1948. Initially, separate award categories were established for black-and-white films and color films. Since the merger of the two categories in 1967, the Academy has traditionally avoided giving out the award to films with a contemporary setting.
Award
The Academy Award for Best Costume Design is given out annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for the best achievement of film costume design of the previous year. Films that are eligible for the award must meet a series of criteria, including the requirement that the costumes must have been "conceived" by a costume designer. For this particular criteria, each submission is reviewed by the costume designer members of the Art Directors Branch prior to the ballot process. Further rules include that the nominee(s) be only the principal costume designer(s), that the five films that receive the highest number of votes will become the ceremony's nominations for final voting, and that the final voting will only be undertaken by active and life members of the academy.
History The Academy Award for Best Costume Design was first given out at the 21st Academy Awards, held on March 24, 1949. The award had two subcategories, one for films in black and white and one for films in color. At the 30th Academy Awards, held on March 26, 1958, these two subcategories were merged into one, which was the result of the academy reducing the number of competitive categories from 30 to 24. The 32nd Academy Awards saw the category again be split into two for recognition of both black and white and color film. Eight years later, the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, along with two other awards, were each combined into their own single category recognizing achievement in film.
From 1949 to 1966, most Academy Awards for Best Costume Design in Black and White were given to a contemporary movie. On the other hand, epics, fantasies, and musicals dominated the color category. Since the merger into one singular category for color films in 1967, films set in modern times have won only three times. The three contemporary-set winners have been Travels with My Aunt, All That Jazz, and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. All other winners during this period have been set in the past or in a science-fiction or fantasy setting.
Winners and nominees
1940s Year Film Costume designer(s)1948(21st) Black-and-White Hamlet Roger K. Furse B.F.'s Daughter Irene Color Joan of Arc Dorothy Jeakins and Karinska The Emperor Waltz Edith Head and Gile Steele1949(22nd) Black-and-White The Heiress Edith Head and Gile Steele Prince of Foxes Vittorio Nino Novarese Color Adventures of Don Juan Leah Rhodes, Travilla and Marjorie Best Mother Is a Freshman Kay Nelson
1950s Year Film Costume designer(s)1950(23rd) Black-and-White All About Eve Edith Head and Charles LeMaire Born Yesterday Jean Louis The Magnificent Yankee Walter Plunkett Color Samson and Delilah Edith Head, Dorothy Jeakins, Elois Jenssen, Gile Steele and Gwen Wakeling The Black Rose Michael Whittaker That Forsyte Woman Walter Plunkett and Valles1951(24th) Black-and-White A Place in the Sun Edith Head Kind Lady Walter Plunkett and Gile Steele (posthumously) The Model and the Marriage Broker Charles LeMaire and Renié The Mudlark Edward Stevenson and Margaret Furse A Streetcar Named Desire Lucinda Ballard Color An American in Paris Orry-Kelly, Walter Plunkett and Irene Sharaff David and Bathsheba Charles LeMaire and Edward Stevenson The Great Caruso Helen Rose and Gile Steele (posthumously) Quo Vadis Herschel McCoy Tales of Hoffmann Hein Heckroth1952(25th) Black-and-White The Bad and the Beautiful Helen Rose Affair in Trinidad Jean Louis Carrie Edith Head My Cousin Rachel Charles LeMaire and Dorothy Jeakins Sudden Fear Sheila O'Brien Color Moulin Rouge Marcel Vertès The Greatest Show on Earth Edith Head, Dorothy Jeakins and Miles White Hans Christian Andersen Clavé, Mary Wills and Madame Karinska The Merry Widow Helen Rose and Gile Steele (posthumously) With a Song in My Heart Charles LeMaire1953(26th) Black-and-White Roman Holiday Edith Head The Actress Walter Plunkett Dream Wife Helen Rose and Herschel McCoy From Here to Eternity Jean Louis The President's Lady Charles LeMaire and Renié Color The Robe Charles LeMaire and Emile Santiago The Band Wagon Mary Ann Nyberg Call Me Madam Irene Sharaff How to Marry a Millionaire Charles LeMaire and Travilla Young Bess Walter Plunkett1954(27th) Black-and-White Sabrina Edith Head The Earrings of Madame de... Georges Annenkov and Rosine Delamare Executive Suite Helen Rose Indiscretion of an American Wife Christian Dior It Should Happen to You Jean Louis Color Gate of Hell Sanzo Wada Brigadoon Irene Sharaff Desiree Charles LeMaire and René Hubert A Star Is Born Jean Louis, Mary Ann Nyberg and Irene Sharaff There's No Business Like Show Business Charles LeMaire, William Travilla and Miles White1955(28th) Black-and-White I'll Cry Tomorrow Helen Rose The Pickwick Papers Beatrice Dawson Queen Bee Jean Louis The Rose Tattoo Edith Head Ugetsu Tadaoto Kainosho Color Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing Charles LeMaire Guys and Dolls Irene Sharaff Interrupted Melody Helen Rose To Catch a Thief Edith Head The Virgin Queen Charles LeMaire and Mary Wills1956(29th) Black-and-White The Solid Gold Cadillac Jean Louis The Power and the Prize Helen Rose The Proud and Profane Edith Head Seven Samurai Kohei Ezaki Teenage Rebel Charles LeMaire and Mary Wills Color The King and I Irene Sharaff Around the World in 80 Days Miles White Giant Moss Mabry and Marjorie Best The Ten Commandments Edith Head, Ralph Jester, John Jensen, Dorothy Jeakins and Arnold Friberg War and Peace Maria De Matteis1957(30th) In 1957 and 1958, black-and-white and color films competed in a combined Best Costume Design category. Les Girls Orry-Kelly An Affair to Remember Charles LeMaire Funny Face Edith Head and Hubert de Givenchy Pal Joey Jean Louis Raintree County Walter Plunkett1958(31st) Gigi Cecil Beaton Bell, Book and Candle Jean Louis The Buccaneer Ralph Jester, Edith Head and John Jensen A Certain Smile Charles LeMaire and Mary Wills Some Came Running Walter Plunkett1959(32nd) Black-and-White Some Like It Hot Orry-Kelly Career Edith Head The Diary of Anne Frank Charles LeMaire and Mary Wills The Gazebo Helen Rose The Young Philadelphians Howard Shoup Color Ben-Hur Elizabeth Haffenden The Best of Everything Adele Palmer The Big Fisherman Renié The Five Pennies Edith Head Porgy and Bess Irene Sharaff
1960s Year Film Costume designer(s)1960(33rd) Black-and-White The Facts of Life Edith Head and Edward Stevenson Never on Sunday Deni Vachlioti The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond Howard Shoup Seven Thieves Bill Thomas The Virgin Spring Marik Vos Color Spartacus Valles and Bill Thomas Can-Can Irene Sharaff Midnight Lace Irene Pepe Edith Head Sunrise at Campobello Marjorie Best1961(34th) Black-and-White La Dolce Vita Piero Gherardi The Children's Hour Dorothy Jeakins Claudelle Inglish Howard Shoup Judgment at Nuremberg Jean Louis Yojimbo Yoshirō Muraki Color West Side Story Irene Sharaff Babes in Toyland Bill Thomas Back Street Jean Louis Flower Drum Song Irene Sharaff Pocketful of Miracles Edith Head and Walter Plunkett1962(35th) Black-and-White What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Norma Koch Days of Wine and Roses Don Feld The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Edith Head The Miracle Worker Ruth Morley Phaedra Denny Vachlioti Color The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm Mary Wills Bon Voyage! Bill Thomas Gypsy Orry-Kelly The Music Man Dorothy Jeakins My Geisha Edith Head1963(36th) Black-and-White 8½ Piero Gherardi Love with the Proper Stranger Edith Head The Stripper Travilla Toys in the Attic Bill Thomas Wives and Lovers Edith Head Color Cleopatra Renié, Vittorio Nino Novarese and Irene Sharaff The Cardinal Donald Brooks How the West Was Won Walter Plunkett The Leopard Piero Tosi A New Kind of Love Edith Head1964(37th) Black-and-White The Night of the Iguana Dorothy Jeakins A House Is Not a Home Edith Head Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte Norma Koch Kisses for My President Howard Shoup The Visit René Hubert Color My Fair Lady Cecil Beaton Becket Margaret Furse Mary Poppins Tony Walton The Unsinkable Molly Brown Morton Haack What a Way to Go! Edith Head and Moss Mabry1965(38th) Black-and-White Darling Julie Harris Morituri Moss Mabry A Rage to Live Howard Shoup Ship of Fools Jean Louis and Bill Thomas The Slender Thread Edith Head Color Doctor Zhivago Phyllis Dalton The Agony and the Ecstasy Vittorio Nino Novarese The Greatest Story Ever Told Marjorie Best and Vittorio Nino Novarese Inside Daisy Clover Edith Head and Bill Thomas The Sound of Music Dorothy Jeakins1966(39th) Black-and-White Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Irene Sharaff The Gospel According to St. Matthew Danilo Donati Mandragola Mister Buddwing Helen Rose Morgan! Jocelyn Rickards Color A Man for All Seasons Elizabeth Haffenden and Joan Bridge Gambit Jean Louis Juliet of the Spirits Piero Gherardi Hawaii Dorothy Jeakins The Oscar Edith Head1967 (40th) Camelot John Truscott Bonnie and Clyde Theadora Van Runkle The Happiest Millionaire Bill Thomas The Taming of the Shrew Danilo Donati and Irene Sharaff Thoroughly Modern Millie Jean Louis1968 (41st) Romeo and Juliet Danilo Donati The Lion in Winter Margaret Furse Oliver! Phyllis Dalton Planet of the Apes Morton Haack Star! Donald Brooks1969 (42nd) Anne of the Thousand Days Margaret Furse Gaily, Gaily Ray Aghayan Hello, Dolly! Irene Sharaff Sweet Charity Edith Head They Shoot Horses, Don't They? Donfeld
1970s