Costume Designer Milena Canonero Wins Her 4th Oscar
Milena Canonero won the Oscar for Costume Design at the 87th Academy Awards for Wes Anderson’s film The Grand Budapest Hotel, which tied Best Film Birdman for the most wins.
“Congratulations to Milena Canonero, elegance, grace and talent at the Oscars.” tweeted Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
“(This Oscar) is yet another confirmation of the strength and vitality of Italian cinema and creativity. Her victory makes Italy proud.” added Italian Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini.
Canonero also won the BAFTA award for Best Costume Design and Excellence in Period Film at the 17th costume Designers Guild Awards. The designer is no stranger to victory: previous Oscar triumphs include Marie Antoinette in 2007, Chariots of Fire in 1982 and Barry Lyndon in 1976 (shared with Ulla-Britt Söderlund). She has been nominated for an additional five Costume Design Oscars. Canonero won the Career Achievement Award in Film in 2001 from the Costume Design Guild.
Canonero is the latest in a long line of Italian success in costume design. An entire room at Museo di Roma exhibition “The Clothing of Dreams: The Italian School of Costume Designers for Film” is dedicated to her designs from Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette (2006). The Turin-born designer studied art, costume design and design history in Genoa. She then moved to England and started her career in small theater, film and commercial productions.
The highly sought after costume designer is responsible for some of the most famous and haunting outfits in cinematic history. Highlights include the twins’ blue dresses from The Shining (1980) and sociopath Alex DeLarge’s white suspenders and Bowler Derby Hat in her first major film work, Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971). The designer displays astonishing range, comfortable designing for 1980s’ “Miami Vice”, Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera (2009, 2013) and Ocean’s Twelve (2004).
Anderson is well-known for his detailed visualization of his films down to every detail. The Grand Budapest Hotel, set between World War I and II, colorfully illustrates an upscale hotel in imaginary Eastern European country Zubrowka. Canonero deftly designed bright costumes in line with historical origins and Anderson’s vision, drawing from the traditional purple uniforms of 1930s hotel clerks and black-and-gray military uniforms. Madame D (Tilda Swinton) has a masterful wardrobe constructed from chronologically haphazard pieces to reflect the character’s eccentricities and longing for the past.
-Amanda Sztein
