The Hollywood Reporter: Notably the first Black woman to win the Oscar for best costume design, Ruth E. Carter took home her first Academy Award in 2019 for the Afrofuturistic costume designs in Ryan Coogler’s blockbuster Black Panther. Never one to sit on her laurels, Carter has taken the costumes next-level in Coogler’s epic sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which opened in theaters on Nov. 11.
5 comments:
One of the things I remember from the first Black Panther was how much the Afro-Futuristic costumes blew me away and when the costumes won awards I was so happy for the whole team. Black Panther Wakanda Forever did not disappoint when it came to costumes. I watched this movie the weekend after it came out with my roommate who is interested in costume design and after the movie the one thing that stuck out to both of us was the interest costuming and juxtaposition between the Wakandan and Mayan Costumes but how both costumes were beautify well done. The fact that 3d printers were so heavily used in production of these costumes is very meta to me as high tech tree d printers were used in the world of the movie so I can totally see how in Wakanda some fashion would be 3d printed or fabricated. All in all the costumes blew me away.
Theo
I think Ruth Carter is brilliant in everything she does but I think in Wakanda Forever she did absolutely incredible. I loved reading in this article about the use of technology she used in her designs. In the article they talked about her using a 3D printer on a few of the pieces which I found so interesting. I also liked how they mentioned how they tested the costumes underwater and how they adapted to the material not working. Also how they used silicone to adapt to that conflict. When seeing the movie I loved how Carter designed the first funeral scene, it took my breath away. There was a shot with Shuri when they showed her jewelry and makeup up close and it was amazing. They mentioned in the article how Shuri was the only character in Grey tones compared to the white tones. That is apparent in the show and really shows the gravity of that scene.
The sheer scale of this project and attention to detail is nothing less than mind blowing. Even with a team of helpers, this project is a huge commitment to lead and Ruth E. Carter did an amazing job. While I have not yet seen the movie and have been trying my absolute best to avoid spoilers, the pictures that I have seen so far have been stunning. The costumes are so intricate with details that I would never notice at the first, second, third, or even tenth look. Reading about the amount of people involved with creating these costumes in locations all around the world, it seems crazy that it could all run through one person. With over 2,000 costumes, that seems impossible but Ruth E. Carter managed to pull it off beautifully. The fact that these pieces were drawn from authentic sources, created with minuscule details, and also made to look perfect underwater is just icing on the cake.
I must say while watching Black Panther Wakanda Forever the costumes were definitely a stand out. I find it so impressive that elements of the costumes were 3D printed and the process that took. I didn’t know that was an option but that totally makes sense for the tactical elements and jewelry. I really applaud the designer for her ability to stay true to the costumes within the world but have odes to traditional garbs for multiple different cultures. The amount of research that takes is impressive in its own but then to construct the costumes after wards is double impressive. I am also so interested in the Latino-Future concept since the original Black Panther focused so much on Afro-Futurism. Seeing that both of these design concepts can work together and thrive was wonderful to watch. I hope to see even more movies that explore Latino-Future and see more cultures involved.
First of all, I had no idea that this Costume Designer was the first Black person to win an Oscar for costume design (for the first Black Panther movie), that's absolutely incredible. Before seeing this movie, I felt that it would be difficult to top the first movie with how incredible I thought it was, but I was not let down by the second film. I cannot comprehend what it must be like to be tasked with designing over 2000 costumes for one movie. All of the costumes in this movie were so interesting and beautiful to me because they resembled existing cultures, however they took on this futuristic vibe for this powerful country. I think that the fact that an entire new culture and civilization was introduced in this movie is imitating to anyone on design team. It's an entire new setting with different types of people, clothing, languages, food, and more.
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