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With awards season upon us, it's only fitting to take a look back at the past decade of style in film. But the awards aren't only about the red carpet. A huge part of what makes a particular film so wonderful is the world it creates. We went to Cathy Whitlock, author and blogger, who took us through some of the most beautiful sets of the last ten years. Take it away, Cathy:

Hollywood has long been a trendsetter in style and taste, particularly in the area of design and interiors. Through the process of film design – known in the industry as production design and set decoration –the backdrop can literally become another character, supporting the actors, developing the story and most importantly, providing the overall visual look.

While the 21st century is relatively young, the past decade has already produced some of the cinema’s most influential period and modern interiors. The following is a look back at the films from the previous decade that were a hit with the design community and style-conscious moviegoers alike.

Costume dramas a.k.a. period films are known for their lavish, historically correct interiors.Director Robert Altman’s Gosford Park (2001) depicts the upper crust world of nobility and their servants in l930’s England with an Agatha Christie murder twist thrown in for good measure. Shot on location in the United Kingdom, production designer Stephen Altman (and son of the late director) was responsible for creating the authentic period interiors for the “Upstairs/Downstairs” theme. Altman and set decorator Anna Pinnock took painstaking care to use furnishings and colors inherent of the period with red being the predominant color.

Production Designer: Stephen Altman
Set Decorator: Anna Pinnock

Photo Credit: USA Films, 2001

The highly stylized film is an homage to the melodramas of the fifties, a period when romance was forbidden, unrequited and the idyllic existence of the characters becomes an illusion. Director Todd Haynes along with production designer Mark Friedberg were influenced greatly by the style and films of Douglas Sirk, the brilliant director of the fifties genre and known for Magnificent Obsession (1954), Imitation of Life (1959) and Written on the Wind (1956). The highly saturated colors of the film reflect the Technicolor aesthetic popular with films of the fifties and sixties.

Production Designer: Mark Friedberg
Set Decorator: Ellen Christiansen

Photo Credit: Focus Pictures, 2002

Costumes and interiors were an integral part of Pride and Prejudice and unlike most period films, the design team was allowed to show the wear and tear. Production designer Sarah Greenwood and her team achieved the ultimate goal of successful production design as “people came away believing in the world that we created – it is sadly a world that no longer exists.”

Production Designer: Sarah Greenwood
Set Decorator: Katie Spencer

Photo Credit: Focus Features, Universal Pictures, 2005

From the lavish costumes to the period appropriate furnishings, every frame in Director Sofia Coppola’s tale of France’s ill-fated young Queen is pure eye candy and a proverbial feast for the senses. Coppola received permission from the French government to film at the Palace of Versailles (particularly the off-limits bedroom of Marie-Antoinette and the Hall of Mirrors) – the first ever to gain such admission. The designers wanted the overall design effect as one of Marie (played by Kirsten Dunst) seeing the world through “rose-colored glasses” and it shows.

Production Designer: K. K. Bennett
Set Decorator: Véronique Melery

Photo Credit: Columbia Pictures, 2006

Production designer Jess Gonchor and set decorator Lydia Marks created Miranda Priestly’s (Meryl Streep) office for the fictitious Runway Magazine with only a shot of Anna Wintour’s real office as a visual reference. The result was the ultimate power office -- imposing and authoritative-- with sleek clean lines, cool glass and metals with a mixture of beiges and whites and touches of black.

Photo Credit: 20th Century Fox, 2006

A romantic tale of love and house swapping on two continents, The Holiday boasted both California contemporary and English cottage style interiors. Inspired by designer Marcel Wolterinck’s book “In/Ex” (Antique Collectors Club, 2005), the Spanish Colonial house in Brentwood, California (again, built on a soundstage) features modern and minimalist yet comfortable furnishings in natural earth tones of brown, crème and gray for the Amanda Woods character (played by Cameron Diaz). Also of interest is the cozy snow-covered Surrey cottage with a chintz-covered sofa, charming copper tub and white brass bed (the home of Iris/Kate Winslet who plays a journalist that swaps houses with Amanda).

Production Designer: Jon Hutman
Set Decorators: Cindy Carr, David Smith, Anna Pinnock, Al Hobbs

Photo Credit: Columbia Pictures, 2006

Set in Manhattan’s ubiquitously chic Upper East Side, the best selling novel-turned-film is set among a sprawling and luxuriously designed twelve-room, five bath classic apartment that becomes the fifth character of the film. Taking cues from the book by Emma Laughlin and Nicola Kraus, the design team based their designs on the lifestyle and personality of the characters while keeping in mind the need for an upper echelon “old money” look to create an instant pedigreed “Fifth Avenue look.”

Production Designer: Mark Ricker
Set Decorator: Andrew Baseman

Photo Credit: Weinstein Company, 2007

Sharing the screen with the four main characters is the inimitable cosmopolitan backdrop of Manhattan with interiors recreated on a soundstage in Long Island City’s Silvercup Studios. As Sarah Jessica Parker notes, “New York became the fifth woman. She really became this critical character, integral to the story.” Fashion and interiors also played an important role as each character’s lair was as different as their signature style.

Designed by Jeremy Conway (the show’s original Production Designer) and Set Decorator Lydia Marks (Devil Wears Prada) - the pair used the original series as a design blueprint for the character’s apartments, each with their own individual.

Production Designer: Jeremy Conway
Set Decorator: Lydia Marks

Photo Credit: New Line Cinema, 2008

Director Tom Ford tapped Mad Men production designer Dan Bishop and set decorator Amy Wells to create the perfect Los Angeles early sixties environment for Christopher Isherwood’s cult novel turned film A Single Man. From George’s (Colin Firth) Neura styled house to Charley’s (Julianne Moore) to-die-for circular sofa, the interiors are period appropriate and the perfect backdrop.

Photo Credit: The Weinstein Company, 2009

Currently in movie theaters, It’s Complicated once again pairs director Nancy Meyers with her production designer Jon Hutman and the results are sophisticated and relaxed interiors with a California casual flair. This time the setting is Santa Barbara where divorcée, empty nester, and bakery shot owner Jane Adler (Meryl Streep) decides to renovate her kitchen and an unusual love triangle with architect and ex-husband ensues. The overall design direction for the 1920's Spanish style ranch came from Meyers who wanted a “Belgian look that is reflected in the house’s furnishings and a quiet palette with natural linen.”

Production Designer: Jon Hutman
Set Decorator: Beth Rubino

Photo Credit: Universal Pictures, 2009

With more than 22 years of experience in the interior design industry, Cathy Whitlock is the author of two books and has be published in such magazines as Architectural Digest, Veranda and ASID Icon. She is the author of Cinema Style, her weekly blog on inspiration, trends and designs in the movies and is a frequent blogger for The Huffington Post.