Hollywood Comes to Raleigh in Costume Designer’s Work

maya brooks, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art

Academy Award–winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter has defined generations through her work in film and TV. Her art adds dimensionality, flair, and culture to the characters she envisions, giving power to the incredible actors who wear her designs.

From humble roots in Massachusetts, Carter began her career in costume design after attending Virginia’s Hampton University and graduating with a bachelor’s degree in theater arts. Initially, she pursued acting, but her work in the college wardrobe department led her to discover the art of creating costumes. Carter apprenticed at the Santa Fe Opera before relocating to Los Angeles, where she designed clothing for stage productions and dance studios.

In 1988 Spike Lee recruited Carter to design the costumes for School Daze, her first film job. To date, she has over 60 film and television credits. She’s worked with legends like Oprah Winfrey, Denzel Washington, Chadwick Boseman, Eddie Murphy, Angela Bassett, and Forest Whitaker. She earned two Academy Award nominations for Malcolm X and Amistad and an Emmy nomination for the reboot of the TV miniseries Roots. In 2019 Carter became the first African American to win an Academy Award for costume design for her work on Black Panther. Then, in 2021 she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, becoming only the second costume designer to receive this honor.

Carter’s process is rooted in research, during which she maps out her ideas visually via sketched illustrations. She then applies her concepts to the characters and transforms their ensembles with elements like embroidery and accessories. She credits the success of her designs to this research, which she describes as a “slow and patient process which cannot be rushed.” In addition to studying images, Carter consults other sources. She includes time in her research process for “reading about a time period, speaking to historians, studying the way the mind thought and body moved, and learning about innovative or ancient design techniques that can enhance the costume.”

The movies Carter’s designed for span centuries, and her body of work boasts a narrative that collectively tells the story of African Americans. It’s a journey that can be traced from the generational chronicle of Roots to the 19th-century slave revolt in Amistad, from the civil rights era depicted in Malcolm X and Selma to the meditations of The Butler. Her costumes reflect the cultural impact of the Motown sound in Sparkle, the experience of fighting the power in 1980s Brooklyn in Do the Right Thing, and the struggles of a superhero coming to terms with his kingdom’s legacy in Black Panther. Overall, Carter’s impact as an artist lies in her ability to bridge generations of viewers through her sartorial translations of race, politics, and culture for the big screen.

Through her deep understanding of character, combined with her nuanced use of color and texture, Carter has helped style the Afrofuturism movement for over 40 years. Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic that combines science fiction, history, and fantasy to explore the Black experience and connect those from the African diaspora with their lost ancestry. The philosophy is also a global reclamation of power, especially as it pertains to heritage, where marginalized communities engage narratives either against or without oppressive cultural and political structures.

Carter defines Afrofuturism for herself as “using technology and intertwining it with imagination, self-expression, and an entrepreneurial spirit, promoting a philosophy for Black Americans, Africans, and Indigenous people to believe and create without the limiting construct of slavery and colonialism.”

Inspired by African masquerade and ceremonial wear, Carter fuses traditional and contemporary by incorporating technology to deliver fashion and function. This has cemented her as one of the preeminent voices and experts on Black aesthetics. In fact, her successful application of 3D printing technology in creating some of the costumes for Black Panther is considered a landmark for 3D printing in fashion.

The exhibition Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design features numerous costumes from the different eras of Carter’s career within an Afrofuturistic installation incorporating original artwork by Savannah College of Art and Design alum Brandon Sadler, whose murals were prominently featured in Black Panther. Inspired by African masks and textiles, Sadler’s work for the exhibition connects Carter’s celebrated costume designs across various time periods and themes within the overarching concept of Afrofuturism.