A year after taking home the Oscar for Best Foreign Film with The Great Beauty, Italy is celebrating another Oscar win: during Sunday night’s 87th Academy Awards, veteran costume designer Milena Canonero won for best achievement in costume design for The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Turin-born Canonero, described by The Hollywood Reporter as “a go-to costume designer for some of Hollywood’s top films,” has gathered nine Oscar nominations during the course of her long career, with her first win in 1976 for Barry Lyndon, followed by Chariots of Fire in 1982 and Marie Antoinette in 2007.
In her acceptance speech, Canonero thanked The Grand Budapest Hotel’s director Wes Anderson, with whom she collaborated twice before this latest project: “Thank you Wes, this is you. This I should share with you. You have been a great inspiration, you are like a conductor, you are like a composer, you are our director and you inspire us all. If it wasn’t for you, this movie, I couldn’t have done it this way. Thank you very much, Wes.”
Twitter was abuzz with fans and viewers praising Canonero’s win, her heartfelt acceptance speech and her style. Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi tweeted: “Congratulations to Milena Canonero, elegance, grace and talent at the Oscars.”
We join in extending our congratulations: Brava, Milena!
