Time.com: Ruth E. Carter's resume as a costume designer reads like a roll call of some of the most culturally significant films of the past three decades: Malcom X, Selma, Do the Right Thing, What's Love Got to Do With It?, Mo' Better Blues. But her latest film, the revolutionary and deservedly much-hyped Black Panther, might be her most notable project yet. With over 1,000 costumes that she conceptualized and created for fantastical world of Wakanda — drawing inspiration from Afropunk fashion and traditional African tribal garments — it seems fitting that Carter calls Black Panther the most challenging, but ultimately most fulfilling film she's worked on yet.
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Representation behind the camera is just as important as representation in front of the camera. Both of these things are extremely important in getting the industry to keep up with the times and get the diversity that the industry and the world needs. In popular culture the push for diversity on screen is very apparent, but the push for diversity behind the camera is not. So seeing woman and especially woman of color in many behind the scenes roles on Black Pantherˆ, positions like costume designer and production designer is amazing. Carter’s work on this movie is truly incredible and inspiring. Her dedication to her education even through non-formal means is what inspired me the most. She saw something that she was passionate about and she motivated herself to do it even though she didn’t have to and that devotion to a passion is what pushed her toward her personal goal and was the stepping point to make her one of the “mamas” of a movement to increase representation for woman of color behind the scenes. Hearing about how she made it into the industry to where she is today is incredible. I hope and know that her work will inspire many young artist to come.
I really like how she described her process for designing the costumes every time she gets a new script. She reads each script with an open eye, imagining each scene in as much detail as she can, looking at it with a child’s imagination; seeing the colors and the flow of the story. Then she completely walks away from the script- instead of sitting right down and designing with pencil and paper- and finds fabric samples and research imagery focusing on the shapes and colors that she focused on while reading the script. She wants you to feel emotion when looking at the costumes. I also really like her research for Wakanda were extrapolated from real African clothing with a modern twist that removed the change in clothing from colonization. Also that she is honest about her reach as a costume designer to make big change in the way Hollywood thinks- she knows it’s not going to happen overnight. So she makes whatever small changes she can to keep the progression moving forward like not falling into making every female fighter in the movie look sexy by not wearing clothing.
It is always so interesting to see the inside work of someone and their work. I have previously read an article that talked very much about Ruth carter’s work for Black panther. It was tremendous work and so much went into it that most people would never think about normally. The research and ideas she created turned out a phenomenal product. This article talks about her though. This is the second piece essentially. Every artist puts their life, experience, and ideas into their work and hearing about their story, interests, and experiences gives you that look into their world. It gives you an even clearer image of how they got to their final product. I find this interesting because as an artist we have to put ourselves into our work. We have to make our work fit to the criteria we want to achieve. And we have to pull form our experiences, skills, knowledge, and research to do that. Something most people don’t realize and something I find fascinating because depending on the person, the same thing can turn out very differently due to these factors and understanding these factors allows for a better understanding on their work.
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