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Solution to Dressing Down

Author: Dan Katz

Each of the images is excerpted from a movie poster (and then, in most cases, rotated). The movie titles within each image are in alphabetical order, row by row. These movies were all nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design; in fact, half of them won that award, while the other half are nominees that lost to those winners.

For each year, one can take the winner and loser, and identify the directions in which the tops of these two images point. These two directions form a semaphore letter. Reading these letters in order by year yields the phrase HEMMING BIRTHSTONE (with one missing year indicating the space). Lindy Hemming won a costuming Oscar for the film Topsy-Turvy; she was born in August, and her birthstone (in the modern American system) is the PERIDOT.

Year Winner Dir Loser Dir Letter
1996 Restoration SW 12 Monkeys W H
1997 The English Patient S Hamlet NE E
1998 Titanic SW Amistad E M
1999 Shakespeare In Love SW Pleasantville E M
2000 Topsy-Turvy SW Sleepy Hollow NW I
2001 Gladiator SW 102 Dalmatians SE N
2002 Moulin Rouge! S Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone SE G
2003[None]-[None]--
2004 The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King S Seabiscuit W B
2005 The Aviator SW Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events NW I
2006 Memoirs of a Geisha W Charlie and the Chocolate Factory E R
2007 Marie Antoinette NW The Devil Wears Prada N T
2008 Elizabeth: The Golden Age SW Across The Universe W H
2009 The Duchess W Milk SE S
2010 The Young Victoria NW The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus N T
2011 Alice In Wonderland W True Grit NW O
2012 The Artist SW Hugo SE N
2013 Anna Karenina S Lincoln NE E

The images, in order:

12 Monkeys W
Across The Universe W
Alice In Wonderland W
Amistad E
Anna Karenina S
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory E
Devil Wears Prada, The N
Duchess, The W
English Patient, The S
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The N
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, The S
Memoirs of a Geisha W
Moulin Rouge! S
Pleasantville E
Seabiscuit W

102 Dalmatians SE
Artist, The SW
Aviator, The SW
Elizabeth: The Golden Age SW
Gladiator SW
Hamlet NE
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone SE
Hugo SE
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events NW
Lincoln NE
Marie Antoinette NW
Milk SE
Restoration SW
Shakespeare In Love SW
Sleepy Hollow NW
Titanic SW
Topsy-Turvy SW
True Grit NW
Young Victoria, The NW