The Academy Award for Best Costume Design recognizes, shock of shocks, the clothes and accessories worn by actors in a film. Clothing can add to the story and express the nature and situation of the characters who wear them.
If a single word could be used to describe this category, it would be “period.” 31 of the 40 nominees here this decade were period pieces. This is not altogether surprising. Period clothes automatically draw attention by not being the sort of fashion we see every day on the street and require the costume designer to accurately portray the time in which the film takes place.
The nominations two years ago “The Queen” and “The Devil Wears Prada” were refreshing in my opinion but extremely rare, being the first contemporary nominees in a dozen years. Admittedly, fantasy films occasionally find a home here as well. Seven nominees this decade fit that mold. But even so, there is usually only one –- and never more than two –- spots available for non-period films in this category.
This is also an arena that tends to reward many familiar faces. In a typical year, only one or two of the nominees are first-timers, while many designers are (usually deservedly) seen year after year. This trend has occasionally resulted in some films one would never expect to find in the awards race landing the label “Oscar nominee.”
Catherine Martin might be leading the way this year. She won this category seven years ago, the last time both she –- and her husband/director Baz Lurhmann -– worked. That film was “Moulin Rouge!” and its design elements were fantastic. Again doubling as a production designer on “Australia” this year, Martin will fashion the world of a Briton coming to a strange historical land, filled, as always, with Lurhmann’s bordering-on-fantastical elements. The design opportunities should once again be amazing and I’d be quite surprised if Martin failed to make the cut.
A huge thank you to commenter Markku who 
While this week is rightly being most noted by awards-watchers for the Toronto International Film Festival, I’m actually going to go a bit of a different route today. I will be sure to comment on the movers and shakers of TIFF next week as the dust begins to settle, however.