Ruth Carter, the Designer Behind the Most Influential Costumes in Black Cinema and Beyond
Photo: Jaxon Photo Group/Jack Manning via Unframed
Last Sunday, Ruth Carter, the costume designer for the Marvel blockbuster Black Panther and its sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda forever, became the first black woman ever to win two Oscars.
Carter has had a long and illustrious Hollywood career. She got her first big break by working with Spike Lee on his second film, School Daze (1988). Throughout her career, she has worked on a wide variety of projects, including the Seinfeld pilot and Steven Spielberg’s Amistad (1997), but she is best known for her work within the Black film canon. She has worked on films such as Ava DuVernay’s Selma (2014), Spike Lee’s Malcolm X (1992), and of course, the Black Panther franchise.
Photo: Ruth Carter via Hollywood Reporter
Ruth Carter grew up in a single parent household, and went to Hampton University in Virginia. She often describes the challenging path to success as pulling herself up by her bootstraps.
Her passion lies in Black History, the research involved in films like Malcolm X and Selma being one of her favorite parts of the job. So, when she landed the job of designing costumes for Black Panther, she used this passion to inform her choices for the film. She used it as an opportunity to dissect, research, and portray the traditional clothing and jewelry of several indigenous African tribes.
Photo: Marvel/Disney via Vox
She took an Afro-Futuristic approach to her design, imagining a world in which Africa was never colonized by Europe. Every costume in the film, every little detail, like color choices for different characters, the Zulu headpiece worn by Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), or the leather harnesses worn by the Dora Milaje warriors, inspired by the Himba tribe, was carefully researched and planned. She was adamant that the costumes be wholly authentic, sourcing textiles from Ghana and rejecting African fabrics that were produced in the Netherlands.
Beyond her work on Black Panther, Ruth Carter has been prolific. She is thorough and detail oriented, and has done immense work to bring various eras of Black history to the forefront of contemporary culture in an accurate visual way. This feat is significant, as one of the best ways to understand history and culture is through these significant visual mediums.