Black Panther Costume Designer Talks Inspiration For Wakandan Outfits
To dress the people of Wakanda in the upcoming superhero movie Black Panther, Marvel Studios [...]
To dress the people of Wakanda in the upcoming superhero movie Black Panther, Marvel Studios turned to African-American costume designer Ruth E. Carter — who is best know for her Oscar-nominated work on Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992) and Steven Spielberg's Amistad (1997).
More recently, Carter clothed the characters in the 2016 remake of the Roots television miniseries. And her work was praised for doing away with the generic loincloths African characters sported in the 1977 original, choosing instead to use historically-accurate and diverse outfits.
Since Hollywood typically limit the types of garments that African characters wear, does Carter feel an extra weight of responsibility to showcase the continent's clothing diversity in Black Panther?
"Oh, yeah. I do," she admitted to Elle. "I felt it with Roots, and I feel it now with Black Panther. That authenticity is very important to me. With Wakanda, I'm sort of piecing together a puzzle. It's the puzzle that is our history. Black history didn't start with slavery or end with the civil-rights movement. I'm trying to put together that puzzle while considering everything that relates to us, including present stuff like the Black Lives Matter campaign."
And what's her approach to clothing the people of the fictional African nation of Wakanda?
I'm looking at the whole continent and a wide range of people, like the Masai and the Suri," she explained. "It all becomes a part of the framework of Wakanda. Most people who read the comic books know Wakanda is a mountainous area; it's a secret place that's not necessarily trading and interacting with the rest of the world. They're a little bit more advanced in technology than other civilizations. We are creating that world, and trying to create a culture and pride that feels authentic to the specific location."
After the events of Marvel's Captain America: Civil War, King T'Challa returns home to the reclusive, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as his country's new leader. However, T'Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne from factions within his own country. When two foes conspire to destroy Wakanda, the hero known as Black Panther must team up with C.I.A. agent Everett K. Ross and members of the Dora Milaje, Wakanadan special forces, to prevent Wakanda from being dragged into a world war.
The film stars Chadwick Boseman (Get on Up), Michael B. Jordan (Creed), Lupita Nyong'o (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Danai Gurira (The Walking Dead), Martin Freeman (Sherlock), Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), with Angela Bassett (American Horror Story), with Forest Whitaker (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), and Andy Serkis (Avengers: Age of Ultron).
Additional cast members include Letitia Wright (Urban Hymn), Winston Duke (Modern Family), Florence Kasumba (Emerald City), Sterling K. Brown (The People v. O.J. Simpson) and John Kani (Coriolanus).
Ryan Coogler directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Joe Robert Cole.
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is in theaters now. Spider-Man: Homecoming lands on July 7, 2017, followed by Thor: Ragnarok on November 3, 2017. After that Black Panther debuts on February 16, 2018, while Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on May 4, 2018. Ant-Man and the Wasp is slated for July 6, 2018, followed by Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019.
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