(CNN) -- Costume designer Mark Bridges can create eras with fabric. For "Boogie Nights" and "Blow," he evoked the 1970s. "The Fighter" showcased the early '90s. "There Will Be Blood" went back to gritty early 20th century California, and "8 Mile," "Punch-Drunk Love" and "The Italian Job" offered a range of contemporary looks befitting their locales -- and characters. With "The Artist," a black-and-white silent film, Bridges brings back that golden Hollywood age -- both the peak of its glamour and pit of its shabbiness. He earned an Oscar nomination for his work -- his first, perhaps surprising given his work on some of the most notable films of the past 15 years.
@highlight
"Artist" costume designer Mark Bridges up for Oscar
@highlight
Bridges used texture to help tell story of silent-era Hollywood
@highlight
Bridges sees job as "amalgam of everything I enjoy"
He spoke with CNN about how his job combines the best of all worlds, and what (or "who," for those who prefer the favored @placeholder pre-show word) he'll be wearing on the red carpet.