This Academy Award was first given for movies made in 1948 when separate awards were given for black-and-white and color movies.
- 1948 Black-and-White Roger K. Furse - Hamlet
- Irene Sharaff - B. F.'s Daughter
- 1948 Color Dorothy Jeakins, Barbara Karinska - Joan of Arc
- Edith Head, Gile Steele - The Emperor Waltz
- 1949 Black-and-White Edith Head, Gile Steele - The Heiress
- Vittorio Nino Novarese - Prince of Foxes
- 1949 Color Leah Rhodes, William Travilla, Marjorie Best - Adventures of Don Juan
- Kay Nelson - \Mother Is a Freshman
- 1950 Black-and-White Edith Head, Charles LeMaire - All About Eve
- Jean Louis - Born Yesterday
- Walter Plunkett - The Magnificent Yankee
- 1950 Color Edith Head, Dorothy Jeakins, Elois Jenssen, Gile Steele, Gwen Wakeling - Samson and Delilah
- Michael Whittaker - The Black Rose
- Walter Plunkett, Arlington Valles - That Forsyte Woman
- 1951 Black-and-White Edith Head - A Place in the Sun
- Walter Plunkett, Gile Steele - Kind Lady
- Charles LeMaire, Renie Conley - The Model and the Marriage Broker
- Edward Stevenson, Margaret Furse - The Mudlark
- Lucinda Ballard - A Streetcar Named Desire
- 1951 Color Walter Plunkett, Irene Sharaff - An American in Paris
- Charles LeMaire, Edward Stevenson - David and Bathsheba
- Helen Rose, Gile Steele - The Great Caruso
- Herschel McCoy - Quo Vadis
- Hein Heckroth - Tales of Hoffmann
- 1952 Black-and-White Helen Rose - The Bad and the Beautiful
- Jean Louis - Affair in Trinidad
- Edith Head - Carrie
- Charles LeMaire, Dorothy Jeakins - My Cousin Rachel
- Sheila O'Brien - Sudden Fear
- 1952 Color - Marcel Vertes - Moulin Rouge
- Edith Head, Dorothy Jeakins, Miles White - The Greatest Show on Earth
- Antoni Clavé, Mary Wills, Barbara Karinska - Hans Christian Andersen
- Helen Rose, Gile Steele - The Merry Widow
- Charles LeMaire - With a Song in My Heart
- 1953 Black-and-White Edith Head - Roman Holiday
- Walter Plunkett - The Actress
- Helen Rose, Herschel McCoy - Dream Wife
- Jean Louis - From Here to Eternity
- Charles LeMaire, Renie Conley - The President's Lady
- 1953 Color Charles LeMaire, Emile Santiago - The Robe
- Mary Ann Nyberg - The Band Wagon
- Irene Sharaff - Call Me Madam
- Charles Le Maire, William Travilla - How to Marry a Millionaire
- Walter Plunkett - Young Bess
- 1954 Black-and-White Edith Head - Sabrina
- Georges Annenkov, Rosine Delamare - The Earrings of Madame De. .
- Helen Rose - Executive Suite
- Christian Dior - Indiscretion of an American Wife
- Jean Louis - It Should Happen to You
- 1954 Color Sanzo Wada - Gate of Hell
- Irene Sharaff - Brigadoon
- Charles LeMaire, Rene Hubert - Desirée
- Jean Louis, Mary Ann Nyberg, Irene Sharaff - A Stare Is Born
- Charles LeMaire, William Travilla, Miles White - There's No Business Like Show Business
- 1955 Black-and-White Helen Rose - I'll Cry Tomorrow
- Beatrice Dawson - The Pickwick Papers
- Jean Louis - Queen Bee
- Edith Head - The Rose Tattoo
- Tadaoto Kainoscho - Ugetsu
- 1955 Color Charles LeMaire - Love is a Many-Splendored Thing
- Irene Sharaff - Guys and Dolls
- Helen Rose - Interrupted Melody
- Edith Head - To Catch a Thief
- Charles LeMaire, Mary Wills - The Virgin Queen
- 1956 Black-and-White Jean Louis - The Solid Gold Cadillac
- Kohei Ezaki - Shichinin no samurai a.k.a The Seven Samurai, s.k.a. The Magnificent Seven
- Helen Rose - The Power and the Prize
- Edith Head - The Proud and the Profane
- Charles LeMaire, Mary Wills - Teenage Rebel
- 1956 Color Irene Sharaff - The King and I
- Miles White - Around the World in 80 Days
- Moss Mabry, Marjorie Best - Giant
- Edith Head, Ralph Jester, John Jensen, Dorothy Jeakins, Arnold Friberg - The Ten Commandments
- Marie de Matteis - War and Peace
- 1957 Orry-Kelly - Les Girls
- Charles LeMaire - An Affair to Remember
- Edith Head, Hubert de Givenchy - Funny Face
- Jean Louis, - Pal Joey
- Walter Plunkett - Raintree County
- 1958 Cecil Beaton - Gigi
- Jean Louis - Bell, Book and Candle
- Ralph Jester, Edith Head, John Jensen - The Buccaneer)
- Charles LeMaire, Mary Wills - A Certain Smile
- Walter Plunkett - Some Came Running
- 1959 Black-and-White Orry-Kelly - Some Like It Hot
- Edith Head - Career
- Charles LeMaire, Mary Wills - The Diary of Anne Frank
- Helen Rose - The Gazebo
- Howard Shoup - The Young Philadelphians
- 1959 Color Elizabeth Haffenden - Ben-Hur
- Adele Palmer - The Best of Everything
- Renie Conley - The Big Fisherman
- Edith Head - The Five Pennies
- Irene Sharaff - Porgy and Bess
- 1960 Black-and-White Edith Head, Edward Stevenson - The Facts of Life
- Danny Vachlioti - Never on Sunday
- Howard Shoup - The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
- Bill Thomas - Seven Thieves
- Marik Vos - The Virgin Spring
- 1960 Color Arlington Valles - Spartacus
- Irene Sharaff - Can-Can
- Irene Lentz Gibbons - Midnight Lace
- Edith Head - Pepe
- Marjorie Best - Sunrise at Campobello
- 1961 Black-and-White Piero Gherardi - La Dolce Vita
- Dorothy Jeakins - The Children's Hour
- Howard Shoup - Claudell Inglish
- Jean Louis - Judgment at Nuremberg
- Yoshiro Muraki - Yojimbo
- 1961 Color - Irene Sharaff - West Side Story
- Bill Thomas - Babes in Toyland
- Jean Louis - Back Street
- Irene Sharaff - Flower Drum Song
- Edith Head, Walter Plunkett - Pocketful of Miracles
- 1962 Black-and-White Norma Koch - What Ever Happened to Baby Jane
- Don Feld - Days of Wine and Roses
- Edith Head - The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
- Ruth Morley - The Miracle Worker
- Denny Vachlioti - Phaedra
- 1962 Color Mary Wills - The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
- Bill Thomas - Bon Voyage
- Orry-Kelly - Gypsy
- Dorothy Jeakins - The Music Man
- Edith Head - My Geisha
- 1963 Black-and-White Piero Gherardi - 8 1/2
- Edith Head - Love with the Proper Stranger
- William Travilla - The Stripper
- Bill Thomas - Toys in the Attic
- Edith Head - Wives and Lovers
- 1963 Color Irene Sharaff, Vittorio Nino Novarese, Renie Conley - Cleopatra
- Donald Brooks - The Cardinal
- Walter Plunkett - How the West Was Won
- Piero Tosi - The Leopard
- Edith Head - A New Kind of Love
- 1964 Black-and-White Dorothy Jeakins - The Night of the Iguana
- Edith Head - A House Is Not a Home
- Norma Koch - Hush . . . Hush, Sweet Charlotte
- Howard Shoup - Kisses for My President
- Rene Hubert - The Visit
- 1964 Color Cecil Beaton - My Fair Lady
- Margaret Furse - Becket
- Tony Walton - Mary Poppins
- Morton Haack - The Unsinkable Molly Brown
- Edith Head, Moss Mabry - What a Way to Go
- 1965 Black-and-White Julie Harris - Darling
- Moss Mabry - Morituri
- Howard Shoup - A Rage to Live
- Bill Thomas, Jean Louis - Ship of Fools
- Edith Head - The Slender Thread
- 1965 Color Phyllis Dalton - Doctor Zhivago
- Vittorio Nino Novarese - The Agony and the Ecstasy
- Vittorio Nino Novarese, Marjorie Best - The Greatest Story Ever Told
- Edith Head, Bill Thomas - Inside Daisy Clover
- Dorothy Jeakins - The Sound of Music
- 1966 Black-and-White Irene Sharaff - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
- Danilo Donati - The Gospel According to St. Matthew
- Danilo Donati - Mandragola
- Helen Rose - Mister Buddwing
- Jocelyn Rickards - Morgan
- 1966 Color - Elizabeth Haffenden - A Man for All Seasons
- Jean Louis - Gambit
- Dorothy Jeakins - Hawaii
- Piero Gherardi - Juliet of the Spirits
- Edith Head - The Oscar
- 1967 John Truscott - Camelot
- Danilo Donati, Irene Sharaff - The Taming of the Shrew
- Jean Louis - Thoroughly Modern Millie
- Bill Thomas - The Happiest Millionaire
- Theadora Van Runkle - Bonnie and Clyde
- 1968 Danilo Donati - Romeo and Juliet
- Donald Brooks - Star
- Phyllis Dalton - Oliver
- Margaret Furse - The Lion in Winter
- Morton Haack - Planet of the Apes
- 1969 Margaret Furse - Anne of the Thousand Days
- Ray Aghayan - Gaily, Gaily
- Don Feld - They Shoot Horses, Don't They
- Edith Head - Sweet Charity
- Irene Sharaff - Hello, Dolly
- 1970 Vittorio Nino Novarese - Cromwell
- Jack Bear, Donald Brooks - Darling Lili
- Bill Thomas - The Hawaiians
- Margaret Furse - Scrooge
- Edith Head - Airport
- 1971 Yvonne Blake, Antonio Castillo - Nicholas and Alexandra
- Margaret Furse - Mary, Queen of Scots
- Morton Haack - What's the Matter with Helen
- Bill Thomas - Bedknobs and Broomsticks
- Piero Tosi - Death in Venice
- 1972 Anthony Powell - Travels with My Aunt
- Ray Aghayan, Norma Koch, Bob Mackie - Lady Sings the Blues
- Anna Hill Johnstone - The Godfather
- Anthony Mendleson - Young Winston
- Paul Zastupnevich - The Poseidon Adventure
- 1973 Edith Head - The Sting
- Don Feld - Tom Sawyer
- Dorothy Jeakins, Moss Mabry - The Way We Were
- Piero Tosi - Ludwig
- Marik Vos - Cries and Whispers
- 1974 Theoni V. Aldredge - The Great Gatsby
- John Furness - Daisy Miller
- Anthea Sylbert - Chinatown
- Theadora Van Runkle - The Godfather, Part II
- Tony Walton - Murder on the Orient Express
- 1975 Milena Canonero, Ulla-Britt Soderlund - Barry Lyndon
- Ray Aghayan. Bob Mackie - Funny Lady
- Yvonne Blake, Ron Talsky - The Four Musketeers
- Karin Erskine, Henny Noremark - The Magic Flute
- Edith Head - The Man Who Would Be King
- 1976 Danilo Donati - Fellini's Casanova
- Alan Barrett - The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
- Anthony Mendleson - The Incredible Sarah
- William Ware Theiss - Bound for Glory
- Mary Wills - The Passover Plot
- 1977 John Mollo - Star Wars
- Edith Head, Burton Miller - Airport '77
- Florence Klotz - A Little Night Music
- Irene Sharaff - The Other Side of Midnight
- Anthea Sylbert - Julia
- 1978 Anthony Powell - Death on the Nile
- Renie Conley - Caravans
- Patricia Norris - Days of Heaven
- Tony Walton - The Wiz
- Paul Zastupnevich - The Swarm
- 1979 Albert Wolsky - All That Jazz
- Ambra Danon, Piero Tosi - La Cage aux Folles
- Judy Moorcroft - The Europeans
- Shirley Russell - Agatha
- William Ware Theiss - Butch and Sundance: The Early Days
- 1980 Anthony Powell - Tess
- Jean-Pierre Dorleac - Somewhere in Time
- Patricia Norris - The Elephant Man
- Anna Senior - My Brilliant Career
- Paul Zastupnevich - When Time Ran Out
- 1981 Milena Canonero - Chariots of Fire
- Anna Hill Johnstone - Ragtime (film)
- Bob Mackie - Pennies from Heaven
- Tom Rand - The French Lieutenant's Woman
- Shirley Russell - Reds
- 1982 Bhanu Athaiya, John Mollo - Gandhi
- Elois Jenssen, Rosanna Norton - Tron
- Patricia Norris - Victor/Victoria
- Piero Tosi - La Traviata
- Albert Wolsky - Sophie's Choice
- 1983 Marik Vos - Fanny and Alexander
- Santo Loquasto - Zelig
- Anne-Marie Marchand - The Return of Martin Guerre
- William Ware Theiss - Heart Like a Wheel
- Joe I. Tompkins - Cross Creek
- 1984 Theodor Pistek - Amadeus
- Jenny Beavan, John Bright - The Bostonians
- Judy Moorcroft - A Passage to India
- Patricia Norris - 2010: The Year We Make Contact
- Ann Roth - Places in the Heart
- 1985 Emi Wada - Ran
- Milena Canonero - Out of Africa
- Don Feld - Prizzi's Honor
- Aggie Guerard Rodgers - The Color Purple
- Albert Wolsky - The Journey of Natty Gann
- 1986 Jenny Beavan, John Bright - A Room with a View
- Anna Anni - Otello
- Anthony Powell - Pirates
- Enrico Sabbatini - The Mission
- Theadora Van Runkle - Peggy Sue Got Married
- 1987 James Acheson - The Last Emperor
- Jenny Beavan, John Bright - Maurice
- Dorothy Jeakins - The Dead
- Bob Ringwood - Empire of the Sun
- Marilyn Vance-Straker - The Untouchables
- 1988 James Acheson - Dangerous Liaisons
- Milena Canonero - Tucker: The Man and His Dream
- Deborah Nadoolman - Coming to America
- Patricia Norris - Sunset
- Jane Robinson - A Handful of Dust
- 1989 Phyllis Dalton - Henry V
- Elizabeth McBride - Driving Miss Daisy
- Gabriella Pescucci - The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
- Theodor Pistek - Valmont
- Joe I. Tompkins - Harlem Nights
- 1990 Franca Squarciapino - Cyrano de Bergerac
- Milena Canonero - Dick Tracy
- Gloria Gresham - Avalon
- Maurizio Millenotti - Hamlet
- Elsa Zamparelli - Dances With Wolves
- 1991 Albert Wolsky - Bugsy
- Richard Hornung - Barton Fink
- Corinne Jorry - Madame Bovary
- Anthony Powell - Hook
- Ruth Myers - The Addams Family
- 1992 Eiko Ishioka - Bram Stoker's Dracula
- Jenny Beavan, John Bright - Howards End
- Ruth E. Carter - Malcolm X
- Sheena Napier - Enchanted April
- Albert Wolsky - Toys
- 1993 Gabriella Pescucci - The Age of Innocence
- Jenny Beavan, John Bright - The Remains of the Day
- Anna Biedrzycka-Sheppard - Schindler's List
- Janet Patterson - The Piano
- Sandy Powell - Orlando
- 1994 Tim Chappel, Lizzy Gardiner - The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
- Colleen Atwood - Little Women
- Moidele Bickel - Queen Margot
- April Ferry - Maverick
- Jeffrey Kurland - Bullets Over Broadway
- 1995 James Acheson - Restoration
- Jenny Beavan, John Bright - Sense and Sensibility
- Shuna Harwood - Richard III
- Charles Knode - Braveheart
- Julie Weiss - Twelve Monkeys
- 1996 Ann Roth - The English Patient
- Paul Brown - Angels and Insects
- Alexandra Byrne - Hamlet
- Ruth Myers - Emma
- Janet Patterson - The Portrait of a Lady
- 1997 Deborah Lynn Scott - Titanic
- Ruth E. Carter - Amistad
- Dante Ferretti - Kundun
- Janet Patterson - Oscar and Lucinda
- Sandy Powell - The Wings of the Dove
- 1998 Sandy Powell - Shakespeare in Love
- 1999 Lindy Hemming - Topsy-Turvy
- Colleen Atwood - Sleepy Hollow
- Jenny Beavan - Anna and the King
- Milena Canonero - Titus
- Gary Jones, Ann Roth - The Talented Mr. Ripley
- 2000 Janty Yates - Gladiator
- Anthony Powell - 102 Dalmatians
- Rita Ryack - How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- Jacqueline West - Quills
- Tim Yip - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- 2001 Catherine Martin, Angus Strathie - Moulin Rouge
- Jenny Beavan - Gosford Park
- Milena Canonero - The Affair of the Necklace
- Ngila Dickson, Richard Taylor - The Lord of the Rings: The Followship of the Ring
- Judianna Makovsky - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
- 2002 Colleen Atwood - Chicago
- Julie Weiss - Frida
- Sandy Powell - Gangs of New York
- Ann Roth - The Hours
- Anna B. Sheppard - The Pianist