Best Costumes (Or: The Moment the Slumdog Thing Finally Spun Irrevocably Out of Control)

Slumdog Millionaire was nominated by the Costume Designers Guild today [src]. The end of the world is surely nigh.

It is written!

I blame Freida Pinto for being so beautiful in bright colors. It's surely her fault.

I once devoted a whole section of my website to costume designers I love their craft that much. Alas, I was lonely in that particular fascination. But they'll always hold a special place in my heart. The cinema (or at least the movie stars) would be naked without them. Here's the clothes the costumers dug most this year.

Contemporary Film

• Iron Man Laura Jean Shannon and Rebecca Bentjen
• Mamma Mia! Ann Roth
• Sex & the City: The Movie Patricia Field
• Slumdog Millionaire Suttirat Larlarb
  
• The Wrestler Amy Westcott

Excuse me while I gnash my teeth at the absence of both Susan Lyall, who delivered a vibrant multiculti mishmash and terrific individual character work for Rachel Getting Married, and Jacqueline Durran, last year's Oscar nominee for Atonement who proved her worth again with Happy-Go-Lucky. Little known factoid to impress your friends with: Ann Roth costumes Meryl Streep constantly -- ten projects together already. Bet she knows Mary Louise's measurements by heart at this point.

Period Film

• Changeling Deborah Hopper
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Jacqueline West
• The Duchess Michael O'Connor
• Milk Danny Glicker
• Revolutionary Road Albert Wolsky

Some real Oscar contenders here of course. Unless awards bodies are called on to single out contemporary features (as is the case with the CDG) they tend to ignore them. Most nominees are drawn from period films. Also: notice the absence of Australia here. It can't get arrested this awards season. In any category apparently.

Fantasy Film

• Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Isis Mussenden
  
• The Dark Knight Lindy Hemming
• The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Sanja Milkovic Hays

The majority of your Costume Oscar nominees will be drawn from these 13 films but maybe not all five. The Costume Design Guild is less predictive of Oscars than some other guilds. You can probably subtract both "fantasy films" that aren't named The Dark Knight from the possible nominees.

You can probably also subtract Milk from the equation. No offense to Danny Glicker but Oscar voters just don't do the 1970s. Trust me, I pay close attention to this category. For reasons unbeknownst to me they do not do 70s. Do they have traumatic life experiences involving bell bottoms?