Oscars 2025: Frock Flock - A Contending Crafts Bonus Podcast

The Water Cooler welcomes Fawnia Soo Hoo to talk about Best Costume Design.

The clothes make the man, woman, prince and pauper, but what does The Academy look for when it comes to Best Costume Design? For me personally, I love talking to costume designers, because of how tied their work is to an actor’s personal choices of a character’s arc. Costume designers work closely with their cast members to talk about silhouette, color, fit, and style, and characters rarely leave their homes without careful consideration of how their wardrobe aligns with their wants and personal moods.

Will The Academy dig Arianne Phillips’ recreation of Bob Dylan’s duds for A Complete Unknown? Will they dive into the different ways cardinals strut around in the papal thriller Conclave? Will they be impressed with how Linda Muir matched those gorgeous gowns with Robert Eggers’ dark vision? Or is it just Paul Tazewell and Wicked‘s to lose? Or could Janty Yates and David Crossman take Gladiator II‘s lone nomination to the podum? Megan and I are joined by writer and fellow costume lover, Fawnia Soo Hoo, to break down this year’s nominees and why we love this category so much.

If you haven’t heard it yet, check out our first Oscars 2025 deep-dive podcast where we covered this year’s Original Song and Original Score nominees. We’ll be dropping more special episodes highlighting craft nominees right up until the Oscars on Sunday, March 2.

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