While evident that the academy favors historical costume design by the fact that 4 out of the 5 nominees are such, it is often greatly due to the intense research to evoke accuracy. 2023’s “Napoleon” is no exception. Designed by Janty Yates and David Crossman, the two visited museums as far as continental Europe to ensure correct styles and materials were used as well as borrowing actual 18th-century pieces. The Oscars have notoriously awarded the honor to more anachronistic interpretations of the time, which holds in “Napoleon” occasionally due to director Ridley Scott’s direction. Scott didn’t request strict period adherence, influencing Yates and Crossman to take some creative liberty with their chiefly accuracy-based approach.
Yates and Crossman pulled from an abundance of Napoleon imagery to deduce how they could translate his actual outfits to reflect his status and emotional journey on screen. Beginning post the Battle of Toulon, whilst Napoleon was enlisted at this point, he was also penniless in Paris, so his uniform copied a civilian-style coat with a flat collar. By 1796, Napoleon had been promoted to commander-in-chief, subsequently he wore French army regulations- a blue single-breasted coat with a red collar embroidered with gold leaf and a red and white sash as reflected in the costuming on screen. Napoleon’s coronation look was inspired by the famous Jacques-Louis painting, particularly his exorbitantly long fur cape. After Napoleon took over the monarchy, French army uniforms were functionalized by using durable materials such as wool and simplified with less ornamentation to unify and create purpose amongst the troops. However, much like the real Napoleon did, his character dressed in a more plain manner akin to his soldiers, visually distinguishing himself from his fellow marshals whose traditionally embroidered coats were still adorned with medals. Despite Napoleon alternating between his usual Imperial Guard cavalry green/white and infantry colonel blue/white uniforms, he ends the movie at the Battle of Waterloo in his iconic chasseur outfit. It was composed of a blue coat placed over a white layering shirt and his signature bicorn hat that he always wore sideways.
As for his first wife, Empress Josephine, her first appearance is at a candlelit party where she nearly escaped a beheading. She wears a plainly decorated beige dress that’s in disarray, her hair askew. After marrying Napoleon, she emerges with a new lavish wardrobe, consistently covered in gold embellishments and excessive jewelry. In the post-revolution survivors’ ball scene, she nixes the corset and opts for just a shift underneath, symbolizing the liberation of the French people through the apparatus of her sexual liberation. Reportedly, Josephine didn’t possess much of an affinity for Napoleon as she did for the jewelry collection he provided for her. This explains her continued friendship with Napoleon after their marriage and her banishment to the Château de Malmaison.
To conclude, do all these factors add up to “Napoleon” deserving the Oscar?