How Oscar Costume Design Nominees Are Chosen, From Designer Review to a Five-Film Ballot

Best Costume Design has a specialist check built into the process. Before a film reaches the ballot, designers review whether its costumes meet the category’s central requirement. Five films then advance, and a final vote is open to active and life members of the Academy.

The rules set out who can be credited, which films qualify and when each stage falls. For the 99th Academy Awards, covering films released in 2026, the calendar was announced by the Academy and ABC on April 7, 2026, and the Academy announced the approved awards rules on May 1, 2026.

Together, the eligibility test, the credit rule and the voting calendar define how a costume designer goes from a finished film to an Oscar nomination.

The Rule That Costumes Must Be Conceived by a Designer

The central eligibility test for the category is that a film’s costumes were “conceived” by a costume designer. That condition sits alongside the Academy’s general eligibility requirements.

For the 99th Oscars, the general requirement is a qualifying theatrical release between Jan. 1, 2026, and Dec. 31, 2026. The eligibility period opens on a Thursday in January and closes on a Thursday in December, as the Academy’s calendar lists it.

The designer test is applied by people who do the same work. Costume designer members of the Art Directors Branch review each submission before the ballot.

That review comes before the ballot process.

Key Dates for the 99th Oscars
Costume Design nominations are announced Jan. 21, 2027, after nominations voting from Jan. 11 to Jan. 15. Final voting runs Feb. 25 to March 4, and the ceremony is March 14, 2027.

From Designer Review to a Five-Film Ballot

Once submissions have been reviewed, the ballot produces the nominees. The five films that receive the most votes become the nominees for final voting.

The Academy’s 99th Oscars calendar sets a nominations voting window from Monday, Jan. 11, 2027, at 9 a.m. PT, to Friday, Jan. 15, 2027, at 5 p.m. PT. The nominations are announced on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2027.

Earlier in the season, preliminary voting runs from Dec. 7, 2026, at 9 a.m. PT to Dec. 11, 2026, at 5 p.m. PT, and shortlists are announced Dec. 15, 2026.

The Academy’s published calendar does not say which categories use the December shortlist stage for the 99th Oscars. Its May 2026 rule changes mention shortlists only for Cinematography.

Who Gets the Nomination: Principal Designers Only

Nominees must be the principal costume designer or designers.

The most recent ceremony shows the pattern. At the 98th Academy Awards, honouring 2025 films, Kate Hawley won for Frankenstein. The other nominees were Deborah L. Scott for Avatar: Fire and Ash, Malgosia Turzanska for Hamnet, Miyako Bellizzi for Marty Supreme and Ruth E. Carter for Sinners.

Shared nominations have been part of the category’s history. Yvonne Blake won with Antonio Castillo for Nicholas and Alexandra at the 44th Academy Awards, and was nominated with Ron Talsky for The Four Musketeers at the 48th.

The question of who counts as a principal designer has surfaced before. Wikipedia’s account of the category notes that Blake publicly objected to sharing that nomination, arguing Talsky had little creative involvement.

The Final Vote and the 99th Oscars Calendar

After nominations are announced, final voting is limited to active and life members of the Academy. The nominees are honoured at a Nominees Luncheon on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2027.

Final voting opens Thursday, Feb. 25, 2027, at 9 a.m. PT and closes Thursday, March 4, 2027, at 5 p.m. PT.

The ceremony takes place Sunday, March 14, 2027, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles. It airs live on ABC at 7 p.m. ET and 4 p.m. PT, and in more than 200 territories worldwide. The 100th Oscars are set for Sunday, March 5, 2028.

Other dates in the cycle include the Governors Awards on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026, and a Nov. 12, 2026, final submission deadline for General Entry, Animated Feature, Best Picture and the RAISE form. The Academy says all dates are subject to change.

Costume designer members of the Art Directors Branch review each submission before the ballot.

What the May 2026 Rule Changes Cover

The rule changes announced on May 1, 2026, do not mention Costume Design. They cover other categories and some general eligibility terms.

Makeup and Hairstyling Branch members must attend at least one of two final branch roundtables to vote in the preliminary round. The Cinematography shortlist is set at 20 films instead of a range of 10 to 20. For Visual Effects, all members must watch the three-minute Before and After reels from the bake-off to vote in the final round.

The Casting maximum rises from two statuettes to three. Screenplays must be human-authored to be eligible, and acting roles must be credited in the film’s legal billing and performed by humans with their consent.

Voting events for Casting, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound and Visual Effects are scheduled for Jan. 8 to 10, 2027.

The Academy’s Awards Committee formulates the rules, which require final approval from the Board of Governors.

How the Category Took Its Current Shape

The costume award was first presented at the 21st Academy Awards on March 24, 1949, for films of 1948. It began with separate black-and-white and colour categories.

The two were merged at the 30th ceremony, held March 26, 1958, when the number of competitive categories was cut from 30 to 24. The category was split again at the 32nd ceremony and combined into a single category in 1967.

From 1949 to 1966, black-and-white winners were mostly contemporary films, while colour winners were mostly epics, fantasies and musicals. Since 1967, contemporary-set films have won only three times: Travels with My Aunt, All That Jazz and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

Edith Head holds the category record with eight wins from 35 nominations. Patricia Norris has the most nominations without a win, with six. Colleen Atwood has four wins from 12 nominations, and Ruth E. Carter has two wins from five, according to Wikipedia’s tallies. Ann Roth also has two wins from five nominations.

Wikipedia lists 97 designers with multiple nominations in the category. Roth is the oldest winner, at 89 years and 177 days, for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Elois Jenssen is the youngest, at 28 years and 144 days, for Samson and Delilah.

Carter’s most recent nomination, for Sinners, was one of five at the 98th ceremony.