FIDM celebrates 2018 Oscars with annual free costume design exhibit

LOS ANGELES -- The annual exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising collects the previous year's major movie costumes, including those worn by 2018 Oscar nominees, and puts them on free public display.

This year, it celebrates the talented designs of more than 125 costumes. Nick Verreos, FIDM spokesman, called the designers "unsung heroes."

"They sit in the quiet background, and let their work do the speaking," he said. "But really they create characters that help tell the story. They create magic."

"Phantom Thread's" Mark Bridges is among the five Oscar nominees for costume design. His challenge was to replicate historical haute couture.

"I didn't feel the pressure," he said. "My pressure is about, can I do service to the piece once again for Paul and his beautiful script?"

He's speaking of director Paul Thomas Anderson, who used some of the movie's real seamstresses on camera. Even star, Oscar nominee Daniel Day-Lewis, learned to sew.

"They lend the authenticity of really knowing what they're doing," Bridges said. "It makes it feel very real."

For "The Shape of Water," best costume nominee Luis Sequeira designed more humble-looking clothes but with just as much detail.

"We all put more nuance and more little details that the viewer may never ever notice, but it adds to the character, to the actor's feeling of the character," Sequeira said.

Jacqueline Durran is nominated for "Beauty and the Beast" and was tasked with translating animation into live action. She's also nominated for her World War II era costumes in "Darkest Hour."

Nominee Consolata Boyle designed lavish costumes for the film "Victoria and Abdul."

Costumes add so much to movies, and yet the Academy Award for costume design wasn't given until 20 years after the Oscars started.

Now costume design has taken its rightful place as a very important part of movie magic. The exhibit at FIDM runs through April 7 in downtown Los Angeles.