First awarded 1948 Country United States of America Currently held by Jenny Beavan | Official website oscars.org Instituted 1948 Category of Academy Awards | |
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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.
Contents
The award was first given 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 amount 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 Black and white film 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 twice, despite the majority of those nominated being contemporary. The two contemporary-set winners are Travels with My Aunt and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Superlatives
For this Academy Award category, the following superlatives emerge:
Multiple nominations
The following 85 designers have received multiple nominations for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. This list is sorted by the number of total awards (with the number of total nominations listed in parentheses).
1950s
For 1957 and 1958, the award was merged into one category.
For 1959 the Award was again divided into two awards.
1960s
From 1967 the category was merged permanently.