Costume designer Ngila Dickson earned an Oscar nod for her work on The Last Samurai. And no wonder: Not only was Dickson working in period, the intricately beautiful costumes that she oversaw -- 2000 in all -- encompass both Eastern and Western designs. The New Zealander compared her crash course in traditional Japanese fashion to "a sort of origami for beginners." (For the full schedule of the movie on AMC, click here.)

The bad news is that Dickson ended up losing her Samurai Oscar bid that year; the good news it was to herself, for her work on Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Check out this photo gallery to take a tour of the fashions she created for Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe.