Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Doctor Strange were two of most visually stunning action blockbusters released in 2016. They certainly boast some of the best CGI effects of the year. But much of the visual appeal from both movies came from the work of their costume design teams, who added layers of detail to its characters that made their fantastical worlds look even more convincing.

Both Rogue One and Doctor Strange are expected to garner further attention in awards season for their visual effects, sound design, and other technical facets. They are both nominated for Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup at the BAFTA Awards, and ought to be serious contenders for Best Visual Effects at the Oscars. But they could also be dark horse candidates for Best Costume Design, as evidenced by their latest recognition from the Costume Designers Guild.

Via The Playlist, the nominees for the Costume Design Guild Awards have been revealed. The awards contain three separate categories for feature-length movies: Excellence in Contemporary Film, Excellence in Period Film, and Excellence in Fantasy Film. As you’d expect, Rogue One costume designers David Crossman and Glyn Dillion and Doctor Strange’s Alexandra Byrne are nominated in the fantasy category.

Doctor Strange Movie - Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) and Benedict Cumberbatch

Crossman, Glyn, and Byrne are up against Deborah Cook for Kubo and the Two Strings and Colleen Atwood, who is nominated twice for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. This is the second costume design nomination for Doctor Strange, which was nominated for Best Costume Design at the Satellite Awards but lost out to 1960s period drama Jackie.

It’s a much-deserved honor for both Rogue One and Doctor Strange just to be nominated at the Costumer Designers Guild Awards. Rogue One is something of a period piece itself, successfully re-creating the look of the galaxy from the classic original Star Wars trilogy and seamlessly adding fresh designs to its settings. Doctor Strange, meanwhile, created impressively detailed sorcerer costumes that were as textured as the mind-bending visual effects surrounding them. Fortunately, the CGI didn’t overshadow the costume design and the good work of both teams didn’t go unnoticed.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that either Rogue One or Doctor Strange will even be nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Costume Design, an award that often goes to period dramas. Although Mad Max: Fury Road was last year’s recipient, Star Wars: The Force Awakens wasn’t even nominated. Rogue One and Doctor Strange face stiff competition from dramas like La La Land, Florence Foster Jenkins, and the aforementioned Jackie. But at the Costume Designers Guild Awards, it’s encouraging to see two blockbusters with such excellent costume design get recognition.

Source: The Playlist