When a shirt and tie won an Oscar for Best Costume

In my opinion, a lowlight of Oscar history was when Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966) won the Oscar for Best Costume Design.

I feel it's one of the great under-achievements in the history of the Oscars, as I've observed numerous times on this blog (here) and (here).

For those of you you have never seen the film, let me explain.

Virginia Woolf is a depressing black and white picture about a deranged middle-age couple who verbally torture each other and a younger couple over the course of one night.  It's a cast of only 4 principal actors, like the stage play it is based on. No other human beings (other than a couple of restaurant employees) can claim to appear in the picture.

So let's talk about these 4 actors and their so-called costumes.

1) Richard Burton. He wears the same shirt, tie, and cardigan sweater throughout the picture.

2) George Segal. The only "costume" he dons is a gray suit and a black tie with white shirt.

3) Sandy Dennis, playing "Honey", the wife of Segal. She wears the same dress through the picture.

4) And finally, Ms Elizabeth Taylor. I counted 3 wardrobe changes. In the beginning she has a black v-neck dress on. To look sexy and appealing for Segal, she slips into a low cut blouse and tights. After the diner scene, she changes again into a light sweater and jeans.

All of these clothes could have been found in a thrift shop. I have nothing against thrift shops (I get clothes there all the time), but I mean I don't get how it won a competitive award.

In the video clip below, Robert Mitchum and Candace"Candy" Bergen reveal the winner in one of the most infamous moments in the history of the Oscars (video courtesy of The Oscars YouTube channel).






As KC of Classic Movies observed on a previous post on the subject, perhaps the clothes succeeded in making the characters look pathetic. Indeed they did.