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Wednesday, August 31, 2022
Ruth E Carter Becomes Only 2nd Costume Designer to Get Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
www.thewrap.com: Ruth E. Carter, the legendary costume designer known for working on films like “Malcolm X,” “Amistad” and “Black Panther,” will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, making her only the second costume designer to ever be recognized.
5 comments:
Maggie Latham
said...
It’s absurd, sad, and disappointingly not at all surprising to me that there have only been two costume designers honored with stars on the Walk of Fame. I remember watching the Oscars a couple years ago and being so mad that they gave out all of the design and tech awards during the commercial breaks. There is a real lack of appreciation and care for the people who actually make things look as good as they do in this industry. So much importance is placed on actors and directors, and while they are important, they are part of a much larger picture. Additionally, Ruth E Carter already made history by being the first Black woman to win an Oscar for Costume Design when she won for Black Panther. It would be nice if she didn’t have to keep breaking all of these barriers by herself because the entertainment industry is so far behind the times.
I am shocked that there have only been two costume designers recognized in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A am also shocked that the last one was over 60 years ago. There has been a lot of great work done in live entertainment in that time. It makes me wonder about how many other individuals have been recognized in the other technical design areas. I hope that articles like these might bring more awareness to the monumental work that is being done by designers in the entertainment industry. Carter’s work is phenomenal to me. To combine the cultural/symbolic with a modern edge makes the characters feel familiar or menacing depending on the “percentage” of each influence in each costume. I am sure there is a lot more to her design aesthetic than that but I love it and all of her work. I hope that more designers can be recognized for their work at this level.
I am so glad she is receiving a star! her work is absolutely unparalleled. However, I share the sentiment that the number of costume designers of the walk of fame is FAR too low. There are so many amazing designers and creatives in the costume world who should be honored for their amazing and profound work. So many award winning designers who should be remembered forever for their effort and ability. This article led me down a short rabbit hole in looking at other "behind the scenes" designer people who have stars on the walk. The answer is they are very few and far between. I would love to see more designers of all fields get more recognition in the walk. This article brought my attention directly to costume designers but I would love to see set designers/scenic artists more represented, lighting designers, sound designers, anyone whose face does not appear on the screen or stage. I am so thrilled for Ruth E Carter, and lets get some more folks to join her!
Ruth E. Carter has truly established an identity within her work that reflects not only herself as an individual but an identity for the black community as a whole within the film and theatrical industry. She is truly a treasure in the costume design industry and her work is so identifiable and distinct that it is very clear when her expertise is prevalent. Especially to those within the black community working within this field and individuals fond of her work as an artist. The lack of black representation in technical fields like costume design has been emphasized thru Ruth. E Carter's high achievements and hopefully her continuous breaking down of barriers is becoming more identifiable to the lack of acknowledgment given to designers and black individuals within the industry. I was not very surprised to hear that she is the second costume designer to be given a star on the walk of fame for I feel as if those who work behind the scenes aren't as heavily acknowledge as the ones we see performing. Though both disciplines take an incredible amount of discipline and critique I am beyond excited to see this accomplishment by Ruth E. Carter, extremely deserved!
I find this text to be very eye-opening to not only the lack of recognition for costume designers within the industry, but also a tribute to the lack of recognition for black women and their feats. It begs the question: How many black women make up the percentage of highly accounted for costume designers? In an article published by https://womenandhollywood.com/resources/statistics/2018-statistics/ in their subsection titled ‘Of the top 300 films from 2016 to 2018’, “There were 275 individuals credited as costume designers. 15.6% were male and 84.4% were female. Only 14% were from diverse racial/ethnic groups. 73.2% were white females, 12.9% white males, 11% diverse females, and 2.9% diverse males.” Although the costuming industry is heavily populated by female designers, a heavy majority of said designers were white women, and of the combined total of men and women in costume design, white men still out-rank black women by 1.9%, even though men make up 15.6% of the total number of costume designers. One can argue that the pool being made up of only 300 movies is a bit small to make any conclusive deductions, however it is crucial to understand that the pool of black costume designers is so low, + the fact that they are under-recognized makes the amount of black designers earning positions on higher-rated movies a lot smaller. In an article from https://coveteur.com/2019/02/22/history-black-costume-design-film-television/ , they state ““In my short time as a costume designer, I’ve had the privilege of working in L.A., NYC, and New Orleans, [and] it’s been interesting to discover how many black costume designers, assistants, and supervisors are in the union and able to be a part of the bigger picture of storytelling through costumes and wardrobe.”” There are people out there who have the skills and passion to create for the big screen who are denied the opportunity to, but they are proportionately being denied the positions to do so. It then begs the question of how many wonderful black costume designers or black artists in general we have lost the opportunity to see, recognize, and praise due to disenfranchisement behind the scenes of theatre and tv; as well as how many costume designers in general have gone without recognition for their work over the years.
5 comments:
It’s absurd, sad, and disappointingly not at all surprising to me that there have only been two costume designers honored with stars on the Walk of Fame. I remember watching the Oscars a couple years ago and being so mad that they gave out all of the design and tech awards during the commercial breaks. There is a real lack of appreciation and care for the people who actually make things look as good as they do in this industry. So much importance is placed on actors and directors, and while they are important, they are part of a much larger picture. Additionally, Ruth E Carter already made history by being the first Black woman to win an Oscar for Costume Design when she won for Black Panther. It would be nice if she didn’t have to keep breaking all of these barriers by herself because the entertainment industry is so far behind the times.
I am shocked that there have only been two costume designers recognized in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A am also shocked that the last one was over 60 years ago. There has been a lot of great work done in live entertainment in that time. It makes me wonder about how many other individuals have been recognized in the other technical design areas. I hope that articles like these might bring more awareness to the monumental work that is being done by designers in the entertainment industry. Carter’s work is phenomenal to me. To combine the cultural/symbolic with a modern edge makes the characters feel familiar or menacing depending on the “percentage” of each influence in each costume. I am sure there is a lot more to her design aesthetic than that but I love it and all of her work. I hope that more designers can be recognized for their work at this level.
I am so glad she is receiving a star! her work is absolutely unparalleled. However, I share the sentiment that the number of costume designers of the walk of fame is FAR too low. There are so many amazing designers and creatives in the costume world who should be honored for their amazing and profound work. So many award winning designers who should be remembered forever for their effort and ability. This article led me down a short rabbit hole in looking at other "behind the scenes" designer people who have stars on the walk. The answer is they are very few and far between. I would love to see more designers of all fields get more recognition in the walk. This article brought my attention directly to costume designers but I would love to see set designers/scenic artists more represented, lighting designers, sound designers, anyone whose face does not appear on the screen or stage. I am so thrilled for Ruth E Carter, and lets get some more folks to join her!
Ruth E. Carter has truly established an identity within her work that reflects not only herself as an individual but an identity for the black community as a whole within the film and theatrical industry. She is truly a treasure in the costume design industry and her work is so identifiable and distinct that it is very clear when her expertise is prevalent. Especially to those within the black community working within this field and individuals fond of her work as an artist. The lack of black representation in technical fields like costume design has been emphasized thru Ruth. E Carter's high achievements and hopefully her continuous breaking down of barriers is becoming more identifiable to the lack of acknowledgment given to designers and black individuals within the industry. I was not very surprised to hear that she is the second costume designer to be given a star on the walk of fame for I feel as if those who work behind the scenes aren't as heavily acknowledge as the ones we see performing. Though both disciplines take an incredible amount of discipline and critique I am beyond excited to see this accomplishment by Ruth E. Carter, extremely deserved!
I find this text to be very eye-opening to not only the lack of recognition for costume designers within the industry, but also a tribute to the lack of recognition for black women and their feats. It begs the question: How many black women make up the percentage of highly accounted for costume designers? In an article published by https://womenandhollywood.com/resources/statistics/2018-statistics/ in their subsection titled ‘Of the top 300 films from 2016 to 2018’, “There were 275 individuals credited as costume designers. 15.6% were male and 84.4% were female. Only 14% were from diverse racial/ethnic groups. 73.2% were white females, 12.9% white males, 11% diverse females, and 2.9% diverse males.” Although the costuming industry is heavily populated by female designers, a heavy majority of said designers were white women, and of the combined total of men and women in costume design, white men still out-rank black women by 1.9%, even though men make up 15.6% of the total number of costume designers. One can argue that the pool being made up of only 300 movies is a bit small to make any conclusive deductions, however it is crucial to understand that the pool of black costume designers is so low, + the fact that they are under-recognized makes the amount of black designers earning positions on higher-rated movies a lot smaller. In an article from https://coveteur.com/2019/02/22/history-black-costume-design-film-television/ , they state ““In my short time as a costume designer, I’ve had the privilege of working in L.A., NYC, and New Orleans, [and] it’s been interesting to discover how many black costume designers, assistants, and supervisors are in the union and able to be a part of the bigger picture of storytelling through costumes and wardrobe.”” There are people out there who have the skills and passion to create for the big screen who are denied the opportunity to, but they are proportionately being denied the positions to do so. It then begs the question of how many wonderful black costume designers or black artists in general we have lost the opportunity to see, recognize, and praise due to disenfranchisement behind the scenes of theatre and tv; as well as how many costume designers in general have gone without recognition for their work over the years.
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