The Hollywood Reporter (Weekly) - The Hollywood Reporter Awards Special
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
In Ryan Coogler’s Marvel sequel, the funeral sequence serves as catharsis and collective mourning for the cast and crew, the Wakandan people and, importantly, Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright). King T’Challa’s (the late Chadwick Boseman) younger sister stoically agonizes over the loss of her beloved brother, while facing new responsibilities as the sole royal heir. “Shuri’s costume has everything to do with setting the stage for the whole movie,” says Ruth E. Carter, who won her first Oscar for 2018’s Black Panther. “The hooded shroud, the tusk earrings and her neck rings, which are part of the costume language of Wakanda. Everything felt heavy and told you that she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.”
Earlier in the high-tech lab, the STEM genius makes last attempts to save an ailing T’Challa, while presciently dressed in a one-sleeve dress with a futuristic mock neck and armor-like mesh. “It should be about her grief,” says Carter of Shuri’s mesh organza overlay. “So, we toned things down to grays and simple silhouettes and a texture that felt like a protective layer.”
Later, on an undercover mission to save Wakanda from multiple threats, Shuri dons a purple tracksuit, designed in collaboration with the Adidas School for Experiential Education Design (S.E.E.D.) program. The sporty ensemble, in Wakandan royal purple, foreshadows her triumphant superhero future — with a fluttery cape billowing out as she rides off on a motorcycle.
After experiencing another devastating loss, Shuri begins to accept her grieving process. She takes on the mantle of Black Panther, and discovers a new future for herself — and Wakanda. “She doesn’t look like the genius scientist or the princess. She doesn’t look like she’s grieving at a funeral. She’s not in a Panther suit,” says Carter, about Shuri’s finale cropped black hoodie, denim shorts and sneakers. “She is completely leveling to who [she is] and finding herself.”