Best Costume Design 1985 Ran Outstanding Individual Achievement in Costume Design for a Variety or Music Program 1993 Oedipus Rex
Emi Wada (和田 惠美, Wada Emi, 18 March 1937 – 13 November 2021) was a Japanese costume designer who worked extensively in stage, screen, and ballet productions. She was born in Kyoto, and attended Kyoto City University of Arts before she married Tsutomu (Ben) Wada at age 20. She was nominated for 13 awards and won six, most notably the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for her work on Akira Kurosawa's film Ran (1985). Wada died on 13 November 2021, at the age of 84.
Early life and education
Wada was born in Kyoto Prefecture. She was the eldest of four daughters and went to high school at Doshisha Girls’ Junior High School. Wada wanted to become a painter, and even though there were few women studying painting in university, her liberal family supported her dream. She took the entrance exam and entered the Department of Western Painting in Kyoto City University of Arts.
While visiting Yoshihide Yoda, her mother’s acquaintance who worked on film screenplays, Wada met Tsutomu (Ben) Wada. Tsutomu Wada was a NHK Osaka TV drama director at the time. Wada had recently submitted her work to the New York Parson School of Arts and the Chicago Art Institute. However, instead of studying abroad on scholarship, she married Tsutomu Wada at age 20, six months after their first encounter.[1]
Despite having initially gone to school to become a painter, her relationship with her husband led to designing the stage effects and costumes for plays he was involved with. From then, Wada continued designing for the stage.[2]
Wada also designed the costumes for the 2018 Chinese adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear.[4]
She released multiple books of her works, including My Costumes, EMI WADA WORKS, and My Life in the Making, the latter of which was created on pieces of textiles with pictures of her work inside.
Wada died on 13 November 2021, at the age of 84.[5]
Awards
Wada and her costumes were nominated for thirteen awards and won six.[6]
Year
Title
Award
2005
House of Flying Daggers
Nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design
2005
House of Flying Daggers
Nominated for Satellite Award for Best Costume Design
2005
House of Flying Daggers
Won OFTA Award for Best Costume Design
2005
House of Flying Daggers
Won NETPAC Award for Best Costume Design and Make Up
2005
House of Flying Daggers
Nominated for INOCA Award for Best Costume Design
2005
House of Flying Daggers
Nominated for Golden Derby Film Award for Costume Design
1986
Ran
Won Academy Award for Best Costume Design
1987
Ran
Nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Costume Design
2003
Hero
Won Hong Kong Film Award for Best Costume/Make Up
2005
Hero
Nominated for OFTA Award for Best Costume Design
2009
Lang Zai ji
Nominated for Golden Horse Award for Best Makeup & Costume Design
2010
Lang zai ji
Nominated for Asian Film Award for Best Costume Designer
1993
Oedipus Rex
Won Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding individual achievement in Costume Design for a Variety or Music Program
2022
Love After Love
Nominated for Hong Kong Film Award for Best Costume & Make Up Design
2011
Reign of Assassins
Nominated for Hong Kong Film Award for Best Costume & Make Up Design
1998
The Soong Sisters
Won Hong Kong Film Award for Best Costume & Make Up Design
2007
The Restless
Nominated for Grand Bell Award for Best Costume Design
2007
The Go Master
Nominated for Asian Film Award for Best Production Designer
Reception
Her work for the 2015 production of The Peony Pavilion was described by The Washington Post as "some of the loveliest ballet creations in memory" with the newspaper further noting that: "Skirt hems flickered like flames as the dancers moved, and the leading ballerina’s sheer overdress floated around her like an afterglow."[7]
