Who is Everything Everywhere All at Once’s costume designer, Shirley Kurata? The Oscar-nominated fashionista looked to Elvis and K-pop for ideas – but had a budget equivalent of ‘1 Marvel costume’

Mar 18 , 2023

Shirley Kurata is the designer behind the epic costumes in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Photo: @shirleykurata/Instagram

Japanese-American designer Shirley Kurata was nominated for best costume design at the Oscars for the A24 film, alongside Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Babylon and Elvis

Although she didn’t win, EEAAO saw massive success including Michelle Yeoh’s best actress title; the Japanese-American icon has previously dressed Billie Eilish and Louis Vuitton’s Pharrell Williams

As a teenager, Shirley Kurata worked in the Aratani Theatre in the Little Tokyo section of Los Angeles. Last Sunday, the venue hosted an Oscars watch party for her film Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Shirley Kurata in a head-to-toe orange ensemble in June 2018. Photo: @shirleykurata/Instagram

Kurata was nominated for her first Academy Award for best costume design in the mind-bending sci-fi fantasy, for which she dressed Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis.

“It feels like coming full circle,” Kurata said in an interview ahead of the Oscars gala.

“I’m so honoured. I’m in the company of just very, very amazing and talented costume designers.”

Shirley Kurata attends the 16th Annual WIF Oscar party presented by Johnnie Walker, Max Mara and Mercedes-Benz on March 10, in Los Angeles, California. Photo: Getty Images

Kurata competed against three past winners – Catherine Martin (Elvis), Ruth E. Carter (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) and Jenny Beavan (Mrs Harris Goes to Paris) – and four-time nominee Mary Zophres (Babylon). The award went to Ruth E. Carter, who made history as the only Black woman to have two Oscars to her name.

Dressed in a vintage floral jacket and skirt, a polo neck (her wardrobe staple, she says) and neon green jelly shoes with purple soles, Kurata rocks a retro style, complemented by distinctive round glasses.

On her pastel blue fingernails? The zany googly eyes seen throughout the film.

Who is Everything Everywhere All at Once’s costume designer, Shirley Kurata? The Oscar-nominated fashionista looked to Elvis and K-pop for ideas – but had a budget equivalent of ‘1 Marvel costume’

Winning every award, everywhere, all at once