Inside the Costume Designers Guild Awards

“This show has a reputation of being one of the coolest of the season,” announced Emmy Rossum, host of the 17th annual Costume Designers Guild Awards at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. And a quick glance around the star-studded room revealed why: not only was this a gathering of the industry’s most revered costumiers and collaborators, but their A-list admirers, too, including presenters Harrison Ford, Jon Voight, Mindy Kaling, Michelle Monaghan, Kiernan Shipka, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, as well as attendees January Jones and Autumn Reeser.

American Horror Story: Freak Show and The Grand Budapest Hotel were among the films and television series that took home the evening’s top honors, with Colleen Atwood snagging the award for Excellence in Fantasy Film with Into the Woods and Albert Wolsky scooping up the win for Excellence in Contemporary Film Award with his work on Birdman.

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Director John Landis was on hand to present his wife, Dr. Deborah Nadoolman Landis, with the Edith Head Award for Advancement and Education of the Art of Costume Design, while Boyhood star Patricia Arquette gave the Distinguished Collaborator Award to the film’s director, Richard Linklater. Naomi Watts received the Lacoste Spotlight Award from friend Laura Dern, who fondly summarized Watts’ career-long relationship with the guild’s costume designers as “a torrid love affair.”

But costume design wasn’t the only topic of conversation: Emmy Rossum left the audience in stitches as she giddily introduced presenter Ford, more than 40 years her senior, as her first kiss — “although he doesn’t really know it,” she noted. “In fact, he wasn’t even really there, because he was on television, and I was, like 10. And I remember the moment because I got zapped by static electricity from the television, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, that’s what kissing must feel like.'”

READ ‘Birdman,’ ‘Into the Woods’ Win at Costume Designers Guild Awards

Harrison — who went on to announce the Career Achievement Award winner, Aggie Rodgers — coolly thanked her for the “very weird” introduction, and joked, “I wish I had been there.”