Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Making a sequel to Black Panther was no easy task. A er the loss of Chadwick Boseman, the script needed to be rewritten and the mantle of Black Panther needed to be passed onto a new character. Costume designer Ruth E. Carter needed to not only create a suit for Wakanda’s new champion, but also to elevate Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett)’s appearance as she became the new leader. In the rst lm, Queen Ramonda is next to King T’challa (Boseman) in an advisory role, which allowed her outt to be more relaxed as she was no longer the face of the nation. A er the King’s passing, she takes a more direct role as ruler, which meant that her costume needed an update. “We see a strong presence of metal,” Carter says. “Her crown has been elevated and she has a collar to her dress that’s been 3D-printed and painted to look like metal.” Though she needs to exude the strength of a ruler, Carter wanted to keep her arms exposed to show that she is still vulnerable in that power. “For Angela Bassett, that is her strongest asset,” she says. “Those powerful arms of hers.” When Wakanda is threatened by an adversary, Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright) is forced to take on the mantle of the Black Panther. “We didn’t go too far away from her form, the silhouette of a woman, with a bust and hips and shoulders,” says Carter. “But we also wanted to delicately enhance the dynamic figure of the panther suit.” Whereas T’challa’s suit was adorned with silver vibranium, Carter wanted Shuri’s suit to have a combination of gold and silver elements. The design went through a lengthy process until they decided that “adding more of the striations on the suit gives it a bit more brilliance than the former Panther suit,” she says. “T’challa’s suit highlighted the physique. In this case, we also highlight the adornments, and that’s what gives it its femininity.” The biggest challenge for Carter was creating costumes that could function underwater. “Clothes aren’t meant to be worn underwater for eight hours and used again the next day,” she says. “We had to rethink everything about what fibers could go in water and still look organic.” The clothing needed to be weighted as well, while still looking elegant. “We’d like to think clothes look like ballet all the time in water, but they just rise up.”