Frankenstein Sweeps the Craft Categories: Inside the 2026 Oscar for Best Costume Design

Costume design had one of its most competitive years in recent memory at the 98th Academy Awards, and it was Kate Hawley's work on Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein that took home the statuette, part of a rare sweep in which the film also won Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Production Design.

The category's other nominees were formidable: Ruth E. Carter for Sinners, Deborah L.

Scott for Avatar: Fire and Ash, Malgosia Turzanska for Hamnet, and Miyako Bellizzi for Marty Supreme. The award was presented by Anna Wintour alongside Anne Hathaway, who arrived at this awards season fresh off promoting The Devil Wears Prada 2 — a neat, almost self-aware moment linking Hollywood's costuming craft to its most famous fictional fashion story. Hawley's acceptance speech thanked the Academy simply "for recognising our craft," a line that resonated with an industry increasingly vocal about costume design's role in building character rather than simply dressing it.

For fashion-minded film fans, the 2026 race was a rare year when the discourse around the red carpet gowns and the discourse around the films' actual wardrobes felt equally loud.