Thursday Movie Picks: Best Costume Design & Best Hair/Make-Up (Oscar Winners Edition)

 

For the 31st week of 2021 as part of Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks. We return to the subject of the Oscar Winners in the categories of Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hairstyling. If an actor is playing a part, they have to look the part as the costume designers, hair stylists, and makeup designers do that job and do wonders with it. Here are my three picks for each category:

Best Costume Design

1. Milena Canonero and Ulla-Britt Soderlund-Barry Lyndon

The costumes set in the 17th/18th century based on the novel by William Makepeace Thackery about the adventures of a young Irishman who stumbles himself into one place and then into another where he becomes rich and then falls immensely following misfortunes of his own and tragedy. The costumes by Milena Canonero and Ulla-Britt Soderlund are among the standards of what costume design should be as the dresses the women wear and the clothing that the men wear have a lot of textures and atmosphere as it adds to the visual quality of the film.

2. Emi Wada-Ran

Akira Kurosawa’s rich adaptation of King Lear set during a feudal period in Japan is among one of the greatest films ever made and certainly Kurosawa in a late peak period of his career. It is a film where the costumes says a lot about the personalities in the film as well as a lord who has been betrayed by two of his three sons in a coup attempt with the youngest having gone on his own. It’s not just in the samurai armor that the army wears but also these robes that these regal individual, their wives, and concubines wear as it’s just an example of what an epic film should be.

3. Ruth E. Carter-Black Panther

Superhero films are often overlooked when it comes to the way costumes are designed yet what Ruth E. Carter did for Ryan Coogler’s film based on the Marvel comics series is another standard bearer of what a superhero film could be in terms of costumes. Yet, it’s not just the suit that the titular character wears but the world that he lives in as there is a lot of color and personalities to the design of these costumes in the people that King T’Challa surrounds himself with. The way characters such as Shuri, Nakia, Okoye, Queen Ramonda, and M’Baku showcase different clothing as well as bring in an element of traditionalism in the design of these costumes that are based on different African cultures gives the film a richness that is rarely seen in blockbuster superhero films.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

1. Greg Cannom, Michele Burke, and Matthew W. Mungle-Bram Stoker's Dracula

Francis Ford Coppola’s take on the Count Dracula story is definitely stylized yet it was the filmmaker’s most accessible and exhilarating film he did since the early 80s as it is all about style. The look of the hairstyles and makeup that play into the period of the 18th/19th Century adds to the film’s look as well as what Dracula looks like when he’s an old man until he gets blood and becomes young again. The hair and makeup design are top-notch as it does play well to a film that isn’t afraid to be style over substance.

2. David Marti and Montse Ribe-Pan's Labyrinth

The design of the creatures that Doug Jones wore are a definite highlight of the film as the work that David Marti and Montse Ribe create for Guillermo del Toro add to the sense of fantasy in the film. The look of these creatures as well as the look of some of the human characters and the way wounds and scars are presented as it just has something that is gritty and real.

3. Damian Martin, Lesley Vanderwalt, and Elka Wardega-Mad Max: Fury Road

The look of the characters in George Miller’s post-apocalyptic film series is definitely a high watermark of what makeup should be. It’s not just in the look of the brides of the cult leader Immortan Joe but also the character and his followers known as the War Boys. It is a film that play into this world set in a deserted wasteland where water is becoming scarce as these characters have a gritty look with some wearing makeup or having some kind of hair style as it is another highlight of one of the best films of the 2010s.

© thevoid99 2021