'Slumdog,' 'Duchess' and 'Dark Knight' Take Costume Kudos

'Duchess' remains my Oscar pick

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Wednesday, February 18th 2009 at 1:45 AM

Pop quiz, hotshot. There's a bomb on a bus. Once the bus goes 50 miles an hour, the bomb is armed. If it drops below 50, it blows up. What do you do? "Uhhhhhhh…. Slumdog Millionaire?"

It is beginning to get a bit silly as there doesn't seem to be a question you can ask this award season that doesn't get answered with "Slumdog Millionaire." Last night the Costume Designers Guild Awards named Slumdog costumer Suttirat Larlarb the winner for excellence in contemporary film while awarding The Duchess (Michael O'Connor) for period film and The Dark Knight (Lindy Hemming) for fantasy film.

Of those three films guess which two can't win an Oscar… Yup, Slumdog Millionaire and The Dark Knight weren't nominated for an Oscar in the costume category with the crowd made up of The Duchess (my current pick to win) and Australia, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk and Revolutionary Road.

Of course, looking at the way the Costume Designers Guild breaks out their nominees it does make a bit more sense how Slumdog won considering it was up against Iron Man (how is this contemporary but Dark Knight is fantasy?), Mamma Mia!, Sex and the City and The Wrestler while the Period Film category carried the majority of the Oscar nominees including The Duchess, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk and Revolutionary Road.

Australia was the only Oscar nominee not recognized by the CDG. You can find the complete list of nominees here.