CMU School of Drama


Friday, April 14, 2023

12 Black Costume Designers You Should Know

CherryPicks: After witnessing Ruth E. Carter's historical Oscar win for Best Costume Design, we got to thinking about all the other Black female costume designers you should know! Scroll down to read about 12 women who help us get immersed into new worlds on screen with fabrics, sequins, and a whole lot of bold choices in everything from touching rom-coms like Rye Lane to edgy new shows like Swarm. We would be thrilled to raid any one of their closets.

3 comments:

John Alexander Farrell said...

The article provides a nuanced perspective on the challenges and opportunities faced by these designers and the impact of their contributions on the representation of Black culture and history in media. What I appreciate most about this article is how it celebrates the diversity of talent and experience in the field. By featuring designers from different backgrounds and with varied experiences, the article underscores the importance of inclusivity and representation. It also recognizes the unique contributions that Black designers bring to their work and how they use costumes to convey emotion, history, and identity.

Furthermore, the article provides a platform for these designers to share their stories and experiences, which highlights the barriers they face in the industry. Limited access to funding, resources, and opportunities are some of the challenges that these designers must overcome to gain visibility and recognition. By doing so, we can create a richer and more inclusive cultural landscape that benefits us all.

Sydney de Haan said...

this piece sounds really interesting and I would love to see it performed the exploration of gender. Seems like it is a very old show that can be brought into a modern perspective very easily. I love how they were able to assemble a team that was so large so diverse and I’m sure that this production is gonna look stunning and really move the audience , I really like what they say towards the end I am talking about how plays our endless texts that are to be rewritten and revised around performers. They also going to talk about how this is something that is very familiar when you’re working with weird performers and during cabarets when you just make the text for who you are because the story may apply to anybody. I think some thing else that they’re doing with this that’s really interesting is how they are willing to accommodate any Actor and now that they have deaf performers in some of their workshops they begin to incorporate British sign language along with spoken English and then captions for the audience understand what they’re saying. they’re also going to translate the text to make it fit the modern audience slightly more. I’m curious how well done this is been I could see it going very poorly and really losing some of the meaning behind the text, but I could also see it going very well and as long as they still are able to convey the feelings behind what is said, it should be excellent.

Rayya Gracy said...

I truly appreciate articles, such as this one that celebrates the black community within the designer field. I feel as though it is so hard for me as an individual who wants to become a costume designer to find black designers to look up to and follow their work. Because I feel as though there are so few black costume designers within the industry and the ones that are in the industry I really don’t know much about them or they aren’t heavily acknowledged. I appreciate how this article doesn’t just list a bunch of names without any commentary or giving credit to their work. But also provides photos and a list of shows that they have worked on as well their social media handles as to reach out to more people and get some attention to their accounts. I wish all these designers, great success, and I hope to also be a part of a list such as this one.