As a fan of both film and fashion, I never get tired of viewing movie costumes so it's always a pleasure to see the FIDM Museum & Galleries in Downtown Los Angeles unveil another exhibit of costumes for public viewing. The Art of Motion Picture Design, now in its 24th year, is a gorgeous display of talent and artistry that's on view through April 30.
This annual exhibit is the only one of its kind that salutes the ingenuity and talent of the designers nominated that year for Best Costume Design. Among the 100-plus costumes on display are several ensembles from the winner of that category -- Mad Max: Fury Road -- along with those from the other four films nominated in the same category: Carol, The Danish Girl, Cinderella, and The Revenant.
The costumes for Carol were designed by 12-time Oscar nominee Sandy Powell, perhaps most famous for the Eizabethan-period finery in Shakespeare in Love. Powell's costumes for Carol, set in 1952 New York, include a blonde mink coat she reconstructed from various pieces of vintage furs and old coats, along with beautifully tailored suits worn by star Cate Blanchett.
The Danish Girl's 1920s costumes were designed by Paco Delgado, who was also nominated for Best Costume Design in 2013, for Les Miserables. Delgado ably rose to the challenge of creating the clothing for Eddie Redmayne's character's transition from Einar to Lili.
The post-apocalyptic costumes in Mad Max: Fury Road were designed by Jenny Beavan, who also won an Oscar for co-designing the Edwardian-era clothing in A Room with a View.
Cinderella's costumes were also designed by Sandy Powell. The costumes at FIDM include the ethereal blue gown Cinderella wore to the ball, along with three colorful outfits worn by Evil Stepmother Cate Blanchett and her equally heartless daughters.
The costumes for The Revenant were designed by Jacqueline West, also the creator of the steampunk-inspired fashions in The League of Ex traordinary Gentlemen. The FIDM show includes five outfits from The Revenant worn by actors including Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy.
The show also includes Trumbo's 1950s finery, including eccentric hats worn by Helen Mirren as gossip queen Hedda Hopper, along with clothing from Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, Suffragette, Straight Outta Compton, Brooklyn, Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Macbeth, Far From the Madding Crowd, Crimson Peak, the Netflix series Beasts of No Nation, Victor Frankenstein, Jem and the Holograms, The Longest Ride, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, and Pitch Perfect 2.
Finally, in a yearly tradition, the show also includes costumes from the previous year's costume design winner -- in this case, they're from the 2015 winner, Milena Canonero's work for The Grand Budapest Hotel.
The Art of Motion Picture Design is free to the public. View it between 10am and 5pm, Tuesdays through Saturdays, at Los Angeles' FIDM Museum & Galleries, located at 919 S. Grand Avenue.
All photos courtesy of FIDM Museum & Galleries