Costume Designers Guild Awards: ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,’ ‘Mulan’ Among Winners

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Mulan and Promising Young Woman were the film winners at the 2021 Costume Designers Guild Awards on Tuesday night.

The virtual event — recognizing excellence in film, TV and short-form costume design — was hosted by To All the Boys star Lana Condor and streamed live on Twitter.

Both Ma Rainey and Mulan are nominated for the Oscar for best costume design. Ma Rainey winner Ann Roth, however, didn’t deliver a speech upon her win, with Condor noting that Roth chooses to let her work speak for itself.

With this year’s nomination, the 89-year-old Roth tied the record for the oldest Oscar nominee at large.

The other Oscar nominees for best costume design — Emma, Pinocchio and Mank — were all nominated for Costume Designers Guild Awards.

Condor, who highlighted her love of fashion during the show, also showed off her comedy chops, joking about how post-quarantine she aimed to channel Catherine O’Hara’s Schitt’s Creek character Moira Rose and how she played presenter Andra Day recently when she sang into her shampoo bottle in “Lana Condor vs. My Shower Curtain,” a play on Day’s United States vs. Billie Holiday.

Costume Designers Guild president Salvador Perez discussed the role costume design and the guild played in the pandemic, opening by saying, “Although we as costume designers work in fantasy and alter reality, I don’t think any of us could have imagined how we’d live our lives over the past year. It’s been challenging, but it’s also shown us how strong and resilient we are.”

Perez added, “During the pandemic, our work has had such an impact on people’s lives. Television and film played an important role in keeping people inspired during the quarantine while everyone at home was looking for ways to take their minds off of things, we brought them other worlds to visit, fantasies and so many escapes from reality.”

The costume designer who’s known for his work on The Mindy Project and Never Have I Ever among other credits also acknowledged how the guild banded together with IATSE to make more than “45,000 masks for hospitals, first responders and others in need” when personal protective equipment was needed during the pandemic.

Perez also called for “pay equity now.”

“As costume designers we are such an integral part of the storytelling process,” he said. “Because our work is traditionally done by women, we are paid much less than departments led by men.”

This call was continued by Promising Young Woman costume designer Nancy Steiner, who won the award for excellence in contemporary film.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to appeal to the industry with a plea to pay costume designers what they’re worth. So much of what you see on the screen is our work,” she said.

Shonda Rhimes and longtime producing partner Betsy Beers were honored with the distinguished collaborator award.

Bridgerton actress Nicola Coughlan presented the duo — who have worked together for nearly 20 years, starting with Grey’s Anatomy — with the honor, saying that the two powerhouse producers “reign” over Shondaland: “a place where people are unafraid to be themselves no matter their shape, color or creed, where every race, ethnicity and sexuality is celebrated.”

“To be a character in Shondaland is to look and feel your best,” Coughlan said.

Beers, who spoke first, said in part, “With each of our series, it’s clear the costume designers have shifted the culture and created moments and trends that often outlive the shows from whence they came.”

Rhimes, meanwhile, used her time at the microphone to praise the specific costume designers she’s worked with: Linda Bass, Mimi Melgaard and Roemehl Hawkins (Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and Station 19); Ellen Mirojnick (Bridgerton and How to Get Away with Murder); and Lyn Paolo (Scandal and the upcoming Inventing Anna).

Hamilton‘s Paul Tazewell also delivered a powerful speech after winning the award for excellence in variety, reality-competition and live television: “At a time like this past year when all of us have experienced and continue to experience the serious challenges of so many of our collective chickens coming home to roost, Hamilton has been a testament to the beauty of spirit that occurs when people of all races, genders and creeds join to rise up to tell our shared stories as Americans.”

Tazewell also thanked the “New York costume shops that are struggling daily to stay afloat during this Broadway shutdown caused by the pandemic.”

Presenters at the 2021 Costume Designers Guild Awards included Day, Rose Byrne, O-T Fagbenle, Ilana Glazer, Leslie Odom Jr., Emerald Fennell, Regina King, Carey Mulligan and Amanda Seyfried.

A complete list of this year’s CDGA winners follows.

Excellence in Sci-Fi / Fantasy Film
Mulan – Bina Daigeler (WINNER)
Dolittle – Jenny Beavan
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey – Michael Wilkinson
Pinocchio – Massimo Cantini Parrini
Wonder Woman 1984 – Lindy Hemming

Excellence in Contemporary Film
Promising Young Woman – Nancy Steiner (WINNER)
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar – Trayce Gigi Field
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) – Erin Benach
Da 5 Bloods – Donna Berwick
The Prom – Lou Eyrich

Excellence in Period Film
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Ann Roth (WINNER)
Emma. – Alexandra Byrne
Judas and the Black Messiah – Charlese Antoinette Jones
Mank – Trish Summerville
One Night in Miami – Francine Jamison-Tanchuck

Excellence in Sci-Fi / Fantasy Television
Westworld: “Parce Domine” – Shay Cunliffe (WINNER)
The Mandalorian: “Chapter 13: The Jedi” – Shawna Trpcic
Snowpiercer: “Access is Power” – Cynthia Summers
Star Trek: Picard: “Absolute Candor” – Christine Bieselin Clark
What We Do in the Shadows: “Nouveau Théâtre des Vampires” – Amanda Neale

Excellence in Contemporary Television
Schitt’s Creek: “Happy Ending” – Debra Hanson (WINNER)
Emily in Paris: “Faux Amis” – Patricia Field & Marylin Fitoussi
Euphoria: “Part 1: Rue – Trouble Don’t Last Always” – Heidi Bivens
I May Destroy You: “Social Media is a Great Way to Connect” – Lynsey Moore
Unorthodox: “Part 2” – Justine Seymour

Excellence in Period Television
The Queen’s Gambit: “End Game” – Gabriele Binder (WINNER)
Bridgerton: “Diamond of the First Water” – Ellen Mirojnick & John W. Glaser III
The Crown: “Terra Nullius” – Amy Roberts
Lovecraft Country: “I Am.” – Dayna Pink
Mrs. America: “Shirley” – Bina Daigeler

Excellence in Variety, Reality-Competition, Live Television
Hamilton – Paul Tazewell (WINNER)
Dancing with the Stars: “Villains Night” – Daniela Gschwendtner & Steven Norman Lee
The Masked Dancer: “Premiere – Everybody Mask Now!” – Gabrielle Letamendi & Candice Rainwater
The Masked Singer: “The Semi Finals – The Super Six” – Marina Toybina
Saturday Night Live: “John Mulaney / The Strokes” – Tom Broecker & Eric Justian

Excellence in Short Form Design
Apple: Shot on iPhone by Damien Chazelle – Vertical Cinema “The Stunt Double” short film – April Napier (WINNER)
The Killers: “Caution” music video – Samantha Kuester
Selena Gomez: “Boyfriend” music video – Dawn Ritz & Kenn Law
Tim Burton Themed Halloween Party short film – Dawn Ritz
The Weeknd: “Blinding Lights” music video – Ami Goodheart