BETTE MIDLER’S CDGA HONOR: ‘A GREAT COSTUME IS A SECOND SKIN’

The star will be given the Costume Designers Guild’s Distinguished Collaborator Award on Feb. 27

At the 25th Costume Designers Guild Awards (CDGAs) on Feb. 27 at L.A.’s Fairmont Century Plaza, special honorees will include costume designers Deborah L. Scott and Rachael M. Stanley (Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Ally McBeal); Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Oscar nominee Angela Bassett, who will receive the Spotlight Award; and Bette Midler, who will be recognized with the Distinguished Collaborator Award.

Midler jokes with THR that the award also recognizes her “willingness to stand in front of a mirror for hours on end! What could be more delightful?” All kidding aside, Midler continues, “A great costume is like a second skin; you feel as if you belong in it. It’s very freeing, because it provides so much information to the audience, and you don’t have to work so hard.”

Asked to name her favorite costumes of her storied career, she says, “I loved Hocus Pocus, everything I wore in Santo Loquasto’s Hello Dolly [on Broadway], Ann Roth’s caftan for Sue Mengers in I’ll Eat You Last, and Constance Hoffman’s costumes for The Showgirl Must Go On [Vegas residency] and Kiss My Brass [concert tour].” She also spotlights the updates that designer Sal Perez, a 2023 CDGA nominee, made to Winifred Sanderson’s sumptuous dress for the actress’ return to the role in 2022’s Hocus Pocus 2: “He added sparkling stones, a ton of hand painting, plenty of layers of chiffon in very intense colors.”

Costume designers, adds Midler, “come with huge stores of knowledge of fabric, construction, history, psychology, decoration. And I respect that knowledge. They always know more than you.”

Midler