The vision behind ‘Black Panther’s’ stunning look
If there is a singular, exhilarating accomplishment that makes costume designer Ruth E. Carter especially proud of her work on “Black Panther” — the big-screen, black superhero saga — it is the uniforms worn by the all-female security force called the Dora Milaje.
The women — bald, athletic and fearsome — are responsible for protecting King T’Challa, the character who comes to be known as Black Panther. Carter was determined to express their power, womanliness, history and spirit through their costumes.
It was a lot to ask of warrior wear, which on female characters in fantasy films very often resembles something more appropriate to a strip club.
“Comics are produced for boys, and they want the girls to be sexy and bad-ass,” Carter says. The Dora Milaje are “wearing a corset in some of the (comic book) iterations . ... The culture we’re in now — look at videos — women are barely dressed. But you don’t want (T’Challa’s) highest-ranking female fighting force walking around in bikinis.
“A lot of times, people are using the body and sex as a form of weaponry. I think that cheapens the look. I wanted to create a story behind the costumes and use elements that were ... attractive and intimidating, because that’s what they needed to be,” Carter says.
To that end, the veteran costumer researched history’s great warriors. The result is a costume that calls to mind the red hues of traditional Maasai attire, along with intricate beadwork that wraps around the neck and bodice. A single beaded tabard runs down the torso.
“There are tribal elements like rings to give it a beautiful sound when (the women) move,” Carter says. “Their armor pieces were made by a jewelry designer. I wanted them to have a hand-tooled presentation.”
Ultimately, she says with a note of triumph, the costumes were “feminine, masculine, beautiful and strong — and without showing an inch of skin.”
‘From the inside out’
Carter, who graduated from Hampton University, has been creating film and television costumes for 30 years. She has worked on a host of Spike Lee films, from “School Daze” and “Do the Right Thing” to “Malcolm X,” for which she received an Oscar nomination — becoming the first African-American recognized for costume design. Her work on Steven Spielberg’s “Amistad” also was nominated; she has yet to win.
More recently, Carter created the well-received, era-appropriate fashion aesthetic for the casts of the “Roots” revival, “Selma,” “Marshall” and “The Butler.”
“I think there’s a definite bias in Hollywood for ‘pretty’ pictures,” Carter says. “My pictures aren’t pretty — even though they’re accurate.”
“Black Panther” is her first blockbuster fantasy film. And her resume, which has regularly led her into historical archives and museums, duly prepared her for the massive undertaking.
The African country of Wakanda, home to Black Panther, may be fictional, but, aesthetically, it is informed by Carter’s visits to North Africa; the library research she had done for 1997’s “Amistad”; the two-volume photo collection “African Ceremonies,” by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher; and a lot of serendipitous discoveries in flea market stands and antique shops run by African entrepreneurs from Atlanta to Pasadena. Carter even had shoppers in Ghana and elsewhere sourcing inspiration from local artisans.
This is also a story that will unfold on Imax screens and in 3-D. There is no room for smudged lines and murky colors. Beside, Carter is the sort of costume designer who does not just wander into the weeds of minutiae — she delights in them.
“When I’d get a TV project, people would roll their eyes and say, ‘Here comes the girl obsessed with the details,’ “Carter says with a chuckle. “But 3-D just makes the details even more important. People are really viewing (things) under a microscope. There’s no aesthetic distance. You can’t get away with plastic substituting for something else.”