Oscar nominations 2014: Costume design nods go to period pieces

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Costume designer Michael Wilkinson, pictured at a DGA screening, earned his first Academy Award nomination for his work on “American Hustle.” (Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images)

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“Great Gatsby” costume designer Catherine Martin has earned two Academy Awards -- one for art direction and another in costume design. She was nominated for her work on “Gatsby” as well. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

By Adam Tschorn

Jan. 16, 2014 4:29 PM PT

The costume designers announced as nominees for a 2014 Academy Award in costume design Thursday all earned their nods working on period films. Michael Wilkinson for the late ‘70s set “American Hustle,” William Chang Suk Ping for “The Grandmaster,” (which begins in 1936), Catherine Martin for “The Great Gatsby,” (set in the Roaring 20s), Michael O’Connor for “The Invisible Woman” (about Charles Dickens’ mistress) and Patricia Norris for “12 Years a Slave” -- a movie based on the 1853 memoir of Solomon Northup.

Martin already has one Academy Award to her credit (for 2001’s “Moulin Rouge,” with Angus Strathie) and two additional nominations. O’Connor has one Oscar (for 2008’s “The Duchess”) and one additional nomination (for 2011’s “Jane Eyre”).

Norris, whose long career includes working on “The Waltons” TV series in the ‘70s, has five previous Academy Award nominations to her credit -- and a 1990 Emmy Award on her mantel from the pilot episode of “Twin Peaks.” Ping and Wilkinson are both first-time Academy Award nominees.

Three of the nominees -- Wilkinson, Martin and Norris -- were also recently nominated for 2014 Costume Designers Guild Awards in the same category – excellence in period film. The CDG Awards will be handed out on Feb. 22 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, with the 86th Academy Awards set to follow eight days later on March 2 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Given the caliber of questionable coifs in “American Hustle,” we have to say we’re a tiny bit surprised that it was nowhere to be seen on the list of nominees in the makeup and hairstyling category, which includes Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews for “Dallas Buyers Club,” Stephen Prouty (“Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa”) and Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny (“The Lone Ranger”).

But we don’t feel too awfully bad for the “Hustle” folks -- the film earned a total of 10 Academy Award nominations Thursday morning, including best picture and director and nominations in all four acting categories.

It’s worth noting that if Martin does end up taking home the trophy for “The Great Gatsby,” it will mark the second costume design Oscar for a version of that film. Theoni V. Aldredge earned an Academy Award for the 1974 version starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow.

ALSO:

Oscar nominations 2014: The complete list

1920s fashion roars back in ‘The Great Gatsby’

‘American Hustle’ builds character from the scalp down

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