Costume designers honor '12 Years a Slave,' 'Behind the Candelabra'

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Presenter Kiernan Shipka (“Mad Men”) attends the 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards in a Delpozo dress and black lace shoes by Nicholas Kirkwood. (Jason Kempin / Getty Images for CDG)

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Amy Adams, who was honored with the Lacoste Spotlight Award at the 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards, wears a backless emerald green floor-length gown with white floral embroidery details at the waist and shoulder, custom designed for her by friend and costume designer Kristin Burke. (Christopher Polk / Getty Images for CDG)

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Actress Olivia Munn attends the 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards. (Jordan Strauss / Invision / Associated Press)

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Presenter Jonah Hill attends the 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards. He told gala attendees that his appreciation of costume designers -- and their hard work -- predates his acting career. “My mom was a costume designer on sitcoms,” he said, “like ‘Taxi,’ ‘Dear John’ and ‘Evening Shade.’” (David Buchan / Getty Images for CDG)

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Presenter Mindy Kaling (“The Mindy Project”) attends the 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards in an azure one-shoulder gown with a flowing train custom-designed by her date for the event, Salvador Perez. In addition to being the costume designer on Kaling’s show, Perez also happens to be the current president of the Costume Designers Guild IATSE Local 892. “Mindy can carry off color like nobody else,” Perez said of his inspiration for the gown, “so I thought I would pick a color no one would wear. Then, acknowledging the similarly hued gown worn by Olivia Munn at a nearby table, he added with a laugh: “I was obviously wrong!” (Christopher Polk / Getty Images for CDG)

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Presenter Raquel Welch, a stunner in a sparkling sequined dress, recounted some of her career-launching costumes -- including the fur bikini from “One Million Years B.C.” and a borrowed “Guys and Dolls” costume (from the “Pet Me Poppa” musical number) -- and summed up her experiences with the observation: “You should never underestimate the power of a killer costume.” (Jason Kempin / Getty Images for CDG)

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Presenter Jeremy Renner (“American Hustle”) attends the 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards wearing a navy, one-button, peak-lapel tuxedo, shirt, and bowtie by Ermenegildo Zegna Couture. (Jerod Harris / Getty Images)

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April Ferry wins a Career Achievement Award for her work as a costume designer at the 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards. “I started my career zipping up the Golddiggers on the ‘Dean Martin Show’,” Ferry said. “Then I worked with Bette Midler on ‘The Rose,’ and ‘The Big Chill’ as my first movie as a costume designer.” Her most recent film, “Robocop,” is currently in theaters. “This industry has been good to me,” she said. (Jerod Harris / Getty Images)

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At the 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards, actors Tony Hale, left, and Olivia Munn, right, present an award to costume designer Suzy Benzinger for her work on the film “Blue Jasmine.” Benzinger said her work on “Blue Jasmine” included spending a lot of time digging through various luxury brands’ archives at all hours of the day. “We almost got locked in at Fendi one night,” she said. “They forgot we were there.” (Jerod Harris / Getty Images)

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At the 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards, costume designer Trish Summerville wins the award for Excellence in Fantasy Film for her costumes in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” Summerville, who said Saturday had been the last day of a 108-day film shoot, offered up a special thanks: “To my wife, who puts up with a lot of [expletive].” (Christopher Polk / Getty Images for CDG)

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At the 16th Csotume Designers Guild Awards, costume designer Tom Broecker wins for his work on the Netflix series “House of Cards.” (Jerod Harris / Getty Images)

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At the 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards, costume designer Caroline McCall won an award for her work on the television series “Downton Abbey.” (Jason Kempin / Getty Images for CDG)

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At the 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards, costume designer Ellen Mirojnick wins an award for her work on HBO’s “Behind the Candelabra.” Mirojnick’s thanks extended to the “Candelabra” cast “that allowed us to bedazzle them every day.” (Jerod Harris / Getty Images)

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At the 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards, costume designer Nancy Steiner wins an award for her commercial work on “Call of Duty: Ghosts Masked Warriors.” She told the crowd that all the costumes “were pulled together in five days.” (Jerod Harris / Getty Images)

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When he took the stage to accept the distinguished collaborator award at the 16th Costume Designers Guild Awards, Judd Apatow said he’d broken one of the buttons on his John Varvatos tuxedo shirt before the gala and had tried to glue the button back together with nail polish before abandoning it altogether. “So that’s why I’m not wearing a tuxedo shirt and why I need costume designers,” he said during his remarks. (Christopher Polk / Getty Images for CDG)

By Adam Tschorn

Feb. 24, 2014 10:34 AM PT

The Costume Designers Guild members honored their own at a gala dinner and awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom on Saturday night, handing out awards for outstanding costume design in seven categories as well as a handful of honorary recognitions.

Among the high-profile attendees (many of them tapped to awards) included Mindy Kaling, Tony Hale, Bill Hader, Jonah Hill, Debra Winger, Kerry Washington, the evening’s host Joshua Malina (“The West Wing,” “Scandal”) and a va-va-voom Raquel Welch, who recognized the importance of costume design by quipping: “Face it, if [costume designer] Sir Carl Toms hadn’t put me in that fur bikini in ‘One Million Years B.C.,’ I wouldn’t be here -- there wouldn’t be a Raquel Welch.”

In a possible preview of Oscar night, Patricia Norris won for excellence in period film for her efforts on “12 Years a Slave,” a category that included fellow 2014 Academy Award nominees Michael Wilkinson for “American Hustle” and Catherine Martin for “The Great Gatsby.”

Norris’ son took to the stage to accept the award on her behalf. “She said, ‘Go have a good time, I’m not going to win,’” Robert Norris said before reading a brief just-in-case list of thank-yous from his mother. “I can’t wait to give this to her. Thank you.”

The night’s other categories and winners included:

Excellence in Contemporary Film

Suzy Benzinger for “Blue Jasmine”

Excellence in Fantasy Film

Trish Summerville for “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”

Outstanding Contemporary Television Series

Tom Broecker for “House of Cards”

Outstanding Period/Fantasy Television Series

Caroline McCall for “Downton Abbey”

Outstanding Made for TV Movie Or Miniseries

Ellen Mirojnick for “Behind the Candelabra”

Excellence in Commercial Costume Design

Nancy Steiner for “Call of Duty: Ghosts Masked Warriors”

April Ferry, whose costume design credits include “The Big Chill” and this year’s “RoboCop” remake, was the recipient of a career achievement award, Sharon Day received the distinguished service award and Judd Apatow was honored with the guild’s distinguished collaborator award.

After a montage of film stills and behind-the-scenes photos from his various movies and TV shows (“The Ben Stiller Show,” “Bridesmaids,” “Superbad” and “Girls” among them), Apatow noted that he had been wearing a Lacoste shirt “in every single shot.” “If that doesn’t get me a free box of [expletive] I don’t know what does,” he joked.

Amy Adams was the final honoree, receiving a crystal award in the shape of a crocodile (the iconic Lacoste logo), which was presented to her by “American Hustle” costar Jeremy Renner.

“My daughter’s obsessed with alligators right now,” Adams said, “so I’m going to put this in her room while she’s asleep and she’s going to freak out.”

Adams went on to share a light-hearted laundry list of things she’d learned from costume designers over the years, from “the actual start date of a movie” to “always wear undergarments to a fitting,” ending with profuse thanks to costume designers, costume house Western Costume “and [‘American Hustle’ key costumer] Honah Lee [Milne], who helped me keep my dignity when, at the end of the day,” Adams said, “there wasn’t a shred of it left.”

ALSO:

1920s fashion roars back in ‘The Great Gatsby’

‘American Hustle’ builds character from the scalp down

Oscar nominations 2014: Costume design nods go to period pieces

adam.tschorn@latimes.com