'Django Unchained' Costume Designer Sharen Davis Vies for Oscar Gold

Slave Traders

The Speck brothers, Ale and Dicky (James Remar and James Russo), are outfitted in loden green and burgundy overcoats with period-shaped hats in grey and brown. The brothers purchased Django (Jamie Foxx) and are transporting him, with other slaves, across the country when they encounter the traveling dentist/bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz).

STORY: Sharen Davis Aims 'Django Unchained' for Oscar Costume Glory

Big Bounty Boys

The Brittle brothers are the three men whom bounty hunter Schultz is hunting for a big reward. Sharen Davis dressed the murderous siblings in rustic camouflage; warm greens, blues and brown shades, adding a a kerchief, a buttoned weskit and a lace-up belted vest to distinguish them from one another. “I have never done so many male characters from so many walks of life," says Davis."They are all speaking roles, so I had to really make them stand out and make each of them their own character."

Bad Guys Wear Black

Poor Marshall Tatum doesn't last long in Django. Dr. Schultz makes short work of him, shooting him in cold blood in front of all the townspeople, then explaining to the mayor that he's actually a wanted-dead-or-alive killer. In the sketch, Sharen Davis initially envisioned him in a bright cobalt shirt, but he appears in the film wearing all black, subliminally conveying his bad-guy status to the audience. 

Euro Style and Spaghetti Swagger

The German-born dentist/bounty hunter Dr. Schultz wears a very stylish and classy European-style tailored overcoat with a capelet. Django, who by this time is discovering his inner bounty hunter, wears a loden green jacket -- modeled on Joe Cartwright's (Michael Landon) jacket in the TV sitcom Bonanza -- over cream pants and looks like a runway model gunslinger.

Maid to Order

Some of the comfort slave ladies are scantily clothed. In one scene, a female slave wears a French maid’s costume, which seems a rather modern-day male fantasy. “We really wanted that scene to be surreal, and we took a lot of liberty there,” says Davis. “But I did some research of burlesque dancers in that era, and they actually did wear textured stockings and short skirts, so there is a historical precedent.”

Spaghetti Western

High-waisted wool trousers, suspenders, a low-slung holster and rugged boots are a heightened version of the pre-Civil War clothing worn in 1859. The knotted kerchief and swiss dotted round-collared shirt and a flat brimmed hat that Clint Eastwood could have worn add a bit of spaghetti Western sexiness for this Django character.

Comfort Chic

When Dr. Schultz asks for Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) to come to his room to speak German to him, she shows up dressed in a demure but provocative period blue printed gown with a nipped waist, full skirt and an off-the-shoulder white linen neckline.

Southern Belle

Kerry Washington plays Broomhilda Von Shaft, Django's wife owned by Leonardo DiCaprio's character, and Sharen Davis dressed her in true romantic heroine style with a puffed-sleeve empire waist lemon yellow gown.

Home Decor

Here's the onscreen version of one comfort slave's elaborate gold chiffon, silk and satin corseted gown, designed by Sharen Davis to be a little surreal and over the top and to make her part of the set. "The furniture in that scene was gold and blonde, so I wanted to her to look like she was part of the furniture,”  Davis says.

Dandy Duds

Heartless peacock plantation owner Calvin Candie, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, was resplendant in his Southern dandy duds, complete with brocade vests, glove, lace ascots and even a magnolia pinned to his jacket collar. His character's painstaking attention to his attire contrasts sharply with his tobacco-stained rotting teeth.

Going for the Gold

Costume designer Sharen Davis envisioned one comfort slave -- Sheba -- dressed in a corseted gold satin frock in her original sketch. "I wanted to her to look beautiful and slinky." Mission accomplished.