Trisha Biggar didn't get Oscar Nomination !

Costume Design:
CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS
PRIDE & PREJUDICE
WALK THE LINE

Pride and Prejudice had the worst assortment of pseudo early Regency costumes spanning anywhere from 1785 to 1825 and they looked terrible.
(I do Regency Dance and would never be inspired by any costume in P&P movie).
And it gets a nomination over Trisha Biggar's incredible costumes.
They are all crazy at the Academy. http://www.oscar.com/nominees/list.html


Star Wars is a Make Up nominee:
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
CINDERELLA MAN
STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH

 

At last there is one nomination !

 

I am deeply perturbed! Memoirs of a Geisha! That's what they wore! Oh and because Walk the Line had SUCH original costumes that took great imagination and skill to make! The only one that I can hope will take it is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! At least there were some interesting original designs in there. I guess GL didn't pay enough into the academy's pockets to get more than one nom . They'd better get the make-up award!

 

They seem to have Costume Design confused with Costume History and Research. (and for P&P I still question the "research"). Simply churning out mass quanties of costumes based on costume history doesn't mean you designed them.

 

Frankly, I would have fallen off my chair in confusion if she had been nominated. This is par for the Academy course. meh.

 

I'm pretty sure the Academy hates Lucas ever since he got a huge chip on his shoulder and dropped out of the guilds after Empire. I mean ever since A New Hope the nominations have fallen off and are usually limited to Sound and Special Effects and they haven't won any of those categories since ANH.

 

"Pride and Prejudice??" "Walk the Line??" And what on earth is "Mrs. Henderson Presents?" (and do I care?)

Memoirs of a Geisha... eh, maybe.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory... okay.

Wow. Considering the number of people actually registered to vote in the Academy, and the very few who actually do, this (sadly) doesn't surprise me at all. It frustrates me beyond all reason, though. Yeah, how obvious is it that the few who vote have their palms well greased? [face_rolleyes]

Ridiculous.

 

http://www.oscar.com/nominees/achievementincostumedesignnominee3.html
The costumes for Mrs. H were done by Sandy Powell, who's work is great, but mostly historical with a flair.
This is the seventh Academy Award nomination for Sandy Powell. She was previously nominated for:
THE AVIATOR (2004) -- Winner, Costume Design
GANGS OF NEW YORK (2002) -- Nominee, Costume Design
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998) -- Winner, Costume Design
VELVET GOLDMINE (1998) -- Nominee, Costume Design
THE WINGS OF THE DOVE (1997) -- Nominee, Costume Design
ORLANDO (1993) -- Nominee, Costume Design

I thought she should have won for Velvet Goldmine in 1998.


But still Mrs H. is not on par with comming up with 1000's of costumes for multi-cultures and non humanoids.

 

Very disappointing, but par for the course.

 

I cant beleive she hasnt been nominated and how did walk the line get in there all you have to do is look at pictures of johnny cash and june carter to see what they wore theres not much imagination involved really is there. I dont think the academy has ever appreciated star wars. Do they even realise that all these costumes were made from trishas imagination and not something that has actually existed before.As said before i think someone needs to explain the difference between costume history and costume design to the academy members.

 

You know, we COULD protest this by parading outside the Kodak Theater in costume! As far as the Academy goes, I've lost faith in them, since "Star Wars" and "Raiders" lost Best Picture to....? Anyone remember? Exactly! Episode I was the first time a SW movie didn't win an award. It lost f/x to "The Matrix", whose effects were copied in every cartoon, commercial, and music video, while Ep. I had to create new programs enirely, for effects like artificial terrain, clothing simulation, to name a few! I think John Williams was robbed more than once, too!

 

At least the Costume Designers Guild has SW/Trisha listed on their nominees
Excellence in Fantasy Film
Trisha Biggar
Star Wars: episode III- Revenge of the Sith

http://www.costumedesignersguild.com/Awards/CDG%20Award%20Archive/Eighth%20Annual%20Nominees%202006/

But they have more catagories. And they knew that P&P was not a good period costuming job, so it didn't get a nod on their list.

 

This is the sixth Academy Award nomination for Colleen Atwood (Memoirs of a Geisha). She was previously nominated for:
LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS (2004) -- Nominee, Costume Design
CHICAGO (2002) -- Winner, Costume Design
SLEEPY HOLLOW (1999) -- Nominee, Costume Design
BELOVED (1998) -- Nominee, Costume Design
LITTLE WOMEN (1994) -- Nominee, Costume Design

I really loved her Lemony Snicket's costumes, and liked the Chicago and Sleepy Hollow ones. But M of G costumes didn't seem to have any flair to them, nothing special.

 

This is the third Academy Award nomination for Gabriella Pescucci (Charlie & CF).
She was previously nominated for:
THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (1993) -- Winner, Costume Design
THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN (1989) -- Nominee, Costume Design

I'm going to root for Charlie & CF, as there is actual "design" involved. I loved the Baron M. costumes that Gabriella Pescucci did.

 

Oh man, talk about a snub! I had a feeling this might happen and I can't say I'm surprised. I just can't believe that the costumes created for Ep III are not viewed by the Academy as being among the the best of the year. Obviously politics, personal taste, and favoritism are things that all factor in when it comes to nominating. I get the feeling that Sci-fi is often seen as second class. At least we can't say that LucasFilms didn't give an honest attempt to make people in the industry aware of all of the talented individuals who contributed to the prequels. There was the FIDM exhibit, Hollywood Reporter ad campaign,and the special presenation to guild members at Fox Studios in LA. There was probably more that I'm not aware of.

I'm also asking myself, am I just a biased fan? Afterall, I thought the push for Ian McDiarmid's nomination was a long shot. He's a fine actor, but I can't say it was one of the top 5 performances of the year.

- Kay Dee

Edit - At least the Costume Designers Guild recognized the work.

 

1977: Annie Hall
1981: Chariots of Fire

 

Though I of course love the Star Wars costumes, I think there are probably several reasons Trisha didn't get a nomination. The Academy has never really gotten science fiction and fantasy and largely they don't get recognized. Lord of the Rings was the exception rather than the rule. Also, Lucas and the Academy don't have a great relationship - you don't play the game, they're not going to waste their time on you. That may also be part of it. One thing I was wondering about is that unlike other movies, where the costume designer does the concept art and design sketches, Star Wars uses artists to draw concepts and then asks the costume designer to make the sketches into costumes. If you look at the costumes, almost all of them were "designed" by one of the artists. I'm not saying that Trisha didn't have input, or that the look of the costume didn't change between the sketch and the final costume - but I wonder if that was a consideration - that Trisha may have translated the costume, but perhaps they didn't consider that she designed them?

As for the other nominees, I think the costumes in Geisha were well-done. They weren't totally historical, which I have heard some people complain about. But Atwood didn't intend them to be totally historical. Each character has their own color pallette, for instance. And character, as well as the emotion of the scene, are all conveyed in the costumes. There are some good articles and interviews and quotes about the costume out there - I have some of the summarized here:
http://www.costumersguide.com/cr_geisha.shtml

This piece in particular is gorgeous and more "fantasy-like":
http://www.costumersguide.com/geisha/vogue4.jpg
(cut and paste the link)

Anyway, I love Colleen Atwood - Sleepy Hollow, Chicago and Lemony Snicket are some of my favorites.

P&P? The costumes were dreadful, so the less said the better. Even if they were wildly innaccurate, they weren't even pretty, imho.

Mrs. Henderson Presents I didn't see, but Powell is an Academy favorite - she's already won for Shakespeare in Love and last year for The Avaiator.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I didn't predict, but I like the costume design, so it's nice to see it nominated.

Walk the Line I wanted to see but didn't get around to, so I can't speak for the costume design - but I imagine it would be pretty difficult to style actors just right to get them to look like real people. I think capturing the correct look for a more modern era is a different challenge than creating fantasy costumes. But that doesn't mean it doesn't deserve recognition.

 

Oh thank goodness, I'm so glad you brought this up. I didn't say anything before because I don't want to sound like a broken record. I know I've posted over the years about how Trisha, as talented as she may be, was not the sole designer on any of the prequels. I understand the need to designate someone as the head 'costume designer' but it irritates me how easily and often the team(s) of ILM concept artists get overlooked when it comes to these costumes.

Whether or not that is something the Academy pays attention to is beyond me, but it's no secret that there is little love between Lucas and the Hollywood elite.
I suppose since Lucasfilm made an effort to try and get a nod for her that perhaps the 'team effort' environment she worked within shouldn't have been a consideration?

 

Can we make up our own statue (in the shape of Padme or something) for her and tell her she's a winner with us?

 

I agree with a lot of what PadawansGuide has said. The histroy between Lucas and Hollywood can't be helping in this case.

I had wondered *if* Star Wars had been nominated if the design team as a whole would have shared in the nomination. But I suppose one person is credited as the Designer. A lot of the creative ideas did come from someone else's beautiful concept drawings (Ian McCaig for example). I'm not belittling Trisha's work in any way. She really did take those drawings to a new level with the use of fabrics, intricate beading, embroidery and smocking details - etc. Just managing the entire project must have been a huge task. Even minor characters have very detailed and elaborate costumes.

I also believe that originality and creativity is not a measure of good costumes per se. I'd imagine there are many different criteria that are considered when evaluating costumes. Historical recreations, period costumes and the like all have their own merits. Perhaps these are even held in higher esteem by the Academy? I had just hoped that "Lord of the Rings" would have broken some ground for the fantasy costume genre.

- Kay Dee

 

Sola, I like your idea lol

At least she got a tiny recognition from the RL
[image=http://photos.imageevent.com/benaequee/costumes/dressingagalaxynyc/websize/Trisha%20RL.jpg]

Maybe we can make up an 'award' for her on behalf of all the C&P members How we'd get it to her is another thing lol.

While she may not have been the sole designer of the costumes (kudos to the artists ), she did a damn fine job of taking a sketch and making into a reality

 

Only if we can make statues for Ian McCaig, Dermot Power, Sang Jung Lee, Warren Fu, Stian Dashlett and all the other concept artists who worked on the initial costume designs. In fact, I think McCaig deserves a special statue because he designed for Padme in all three films.

Honestly, I can easily differentiate between the different roles the conceptual artists and Biggar played in the process. And, yes, sometimes they collaborated together. There's no denying that Trisha did a phenomenal job helping to realize extremely imaginative designs into tangible and wearable working garments. Her set of skills is different and necessary from those of the artists and so I have tremendous appreciation and respect for her. I just have equal amounts of it for the concept artists too.

 

About Lucas not being a favourite in Hollywood: I red somewhere that he DID get some Oscar nominations for the Indy films.


Trisha not being nominated for an Oscar, ok, but P&P is? I know that I have been watching the costumes of that film with extra care, and you can't tell me that those are better in accuracy, originality, or whatever the things are in which they are judged, than ROTS.
But than again, I of course, am not a judge.


I actually admire the amount of collaboration between the concept designers, Trisha and all the other people who were involved, more, than the efforts of a single designer. I think especially that should be awarded with a price, because we all know that it is easier to make something as an individual than making something in a group, because in a group there are of course more people involved, but more people also means more different opinions. When you have such a big group and can make such a beautiful end product, I think, is a piece of organisation and art that even an Oscar isn't a big enough price.

 

I didn't mean to leave the others unrecognized in the idea there, of course it is never just one person's contribution. But the Academy would have nominated only her, like a representative of the team in a way.

If we did something like this, I would certainly want to put all their names on it!

 

Oh, I know you didn't. I was just being mischievious.