The Oscar race is far from sewn up, and those who say it is may have just gotten a snag in their plans. O.K.—I’m all out of dressmaking puns for now. But since Sunday night’s first New York City screening of Phantom Thread, like last week’s initial screening of The Post, forbade all reviews and “social media sentiment,” it’s growing increasingly difficult to talk about these highly anticipated awards-season movies without, you know, talking about them.

I think I can say that the post-screening panel at the Directors Guild Theater, which featured writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson and actors Daniel Day-Lewis, Lesley Manville, and relative newcomer Vicky Krieps, ought to have had two additional seats if buttering up the crowd for in-reach awards glory was its true aim. Expect further conversation about prospects for Jonny Greenwood, whose original score moves between peppy jazz, lush orchestration, and some eerie, dissonant tones—as befits a member of Radiohead—and costume designer Mark Bridges.

That last one is a natural, as this film is set in the world of mid-1950s London haute couture, at the fictional House of Woodcock. Day-Lewis is Reynolds Woodcock, the mercurial, inscrutable genius who designs dresses for continental princesses and other wealthy women of society. His sister Cyril (Manville) runs the business side of things, and is tasked with keeping Reynolds focused and content. Imbalance comes to the London townhouse when what’s implied to be the latest in a string of girlfriends/models/muses is dismissed and replaced by a young woman from “the country,” a waitress named Alma (Krieps) who perhaps is not as docile as she seems.

“The couture is an important part of the story,” Day-Lewis told us with his soothing, dulcet tones. “But it could have been anything in the creative world. The work itself is kind of immaterial. It’s a daft thing to say because we worked hard to make it real, but it was up for grabs.”

Day-Lewis, who wore an open plaid shirt over a white tee with the sleeves rolled up to show off his tattoos, certainly did his homework about the world of high fashion. He and Anderson name-dropped Cristóbal Balenciaga, Norman Hartnell, Hardy Amies, Michael Sherard, Digby Morton, Edward Molyneux, John Cavanagh, and Victor Stiebel. “We splashed around in all their experiences,” Day-Lewis said, while downplaying the role that the real Charles James had in the development of the character. Designer James was originally rumored to be the part Day-Lewis was to play in the film—but according to the actor, “as fascinating as his life was, it was not the life we wanted to explore.”