The Oscar for Best Costume Design goes to the designer who has created the most compelling costumes for characters in film.http://oscar.go.com/nominations#category_costume-design  In 2011, five designers snagged Academy Award nominations for Best Costume Design. The field includes several veterans who have received multiple nominations (and wins) in this category and a pair of newcomers.  

The 2011 Best Costume Design Oscar nominees are Alice in Wonderland, costume design by Colleen Atwood; I Am Love, costume design by Antonella Cannarozzi; The King's Speech, costume design by Jenny Beavan; The Tempest, costume design by Sandy Powell; and True Grit, costume design by Mary Zophres.

Colleen Atwood, a 2011 Best Costume Oscar nominee for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, is a nine-time Academy Award nominee in this category.http://oscar.go.com/nominations/category/costume-design/history/alice-in-wonderland/687001  Atwood has won the award twice before: in 2005 for Memoirs of a Geisha and in 2002 for Chicago.  

I Am Love costumer designer Antonella Cannarozzi is one of two first-time Oscar nominees.http://oscar.go.com/nominations/category/costume-design/history/i-am-love/693714   Cannarozzi has been working in the industry for nearly 15 years and has 14 costume-design film titles to her credit.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0134050/ 

The King's Speech costume designer Jenny Beavan is another Oscar veteran, having received a total of nine Best Costume Design Academy Awards over her career. Beavan won once: in 1986, for A Room With a View.http://oscar.go.com/nominations/category/costume-design/history/the-kings-speech/687103 

The Tempest costume designer Sandy Powell is also a nine-time Best Costume Design Oscar nominee.http://oscar.go.com/nominations/category/costume-design/history/the-tempest/687046  Powell has won three times, most recently for 2009's The Young Victoria. She also won for 1998's Shakespeare in Love and again, in 2004, for The Aviator.

Mary Zophres, costume designer for 2010's True Grit, received her first-ever Oscar nomination in 2011.http://oscar.go.com/nominations/category/costume-design/history/true-grit/687068  Zophres previously collaborated with Joel and Ethan Coen on such films as No Country for Old Men, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and Fargo.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0957861/ 

The Best Costume Design Oscar was first awarded in 1948, at the 21st annual Academy Awards.  Back then, the award was split into two categories: one for black-and-white films and another for color films.  The two awards were combined in 1957. Recent winners of the Best Costume Design Academy Award include Sandy Powell for The Young Victoria in 2010, Michael O'Connor for The Duchess in 2009, and Alexandra Byrne for Elizabeth: The Golden Age in 2008.http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/rules/rule10.html