Ruth E. Carter Continues To Thread Her Legacy With The Wright Museum's 'Afrofuturism in Costume Design' Exhibit
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Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter. PHOTO BY STINSON PHOTOGRAPHY LLC/COURTESY OF THE WRIGHT MUSEUM
Costumes play an integral role in films, helping to tell the story of the characters and oftentimes becoming characters themselves. Ruth E. Carter knows this best. The two-time Oscar-winning costume designer (the only Black woman to do so thus far) is known for her work on classics like Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, both Black Panther films and Selma. Her passion for storytelling is celebrated in Detroit’s Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History’s Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design exhibit, running through March 31.
“The Wright contextualizes Ruth E. Carter’s work through the lens of the African diasporic experience, acknowledging how her designs have been informed by cultural narratives found throughout The Wright’s permanent collection and public programs,” says Neil A. Barclay, the museum’s president and CEO. “The exhibition celebrates Carter’s indelible contributions to the Black cinematic canon across several decades, forging a visual language that transcends the screen and has helped shape modern culture as seen through a uniquely African American perspective.”
A suit worn by Letitia Wright’s Shuri character from 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. PHOTO BY STINSON PHOTOGRAPHY LLC/COURTESY OF THE WRIGHT MUSEUM
When we first got on Zoom, you were just speaking about having a busy day. I'm sure each day varies, but what do you like to do to reset or recharge your mind?
Yeah, that's a good question. Because as artists, we have to recharge all kinds of things that happen in the day. And I'm always really surprised sometimes when I'm mentally exhausted, I may not have had to physically move something, but my mind has to sort of deal with maybe being confronted with an issue and I have to work it out in the moment. And sometimes, that's over a prolonged amount of time. So, usually, I love to unwind with my friends. I love a great invitation to go meet for hors d'oeuvres and drinks. I love going out and being amongst people out in the world. On weekends, I usually try to get enough rest.
If I cannot get to a museum or some event that I want to go to, it's because I have made a conscious decision to just decompress, sleep in and just let my mind not think about any deadlines. Also, I love reading, I don't get enough time to read, I have so many books, I have audibles, I've got my apps, I have a Kindle, I have everything. I do try to schedule a little time for myself in my books in the morning, I make a chai latte and I'll sit down and I'll do at least an hour with a good book.
I love reading about Black history. It relaxes me and I love to learn new things about people and their lifestyles in the past because I'm always having to come up with these ideas that have everything to do with why people put the clothes on that they are wearing. What is their profession? What is their occupation? What are they doing at the in the moment? So I really do need to read stories. I love reading scripts that tell good straight stories, love reading books that tell great stories, especially true stories. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson is just one of my favorites.
READ MORE: Costume Designer Ruth E. Carter Dishes On Her Oscar-Winning 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' Looks
I find myself doing this, but do you find it hard to turn your brain off from the work and just do the research for enjoyment?
Sometimes, yes. It is hard to do that. However, I made a practice of when I'm reading a script to read it like I'm reading a story in a book. So I'm usually trying not to work, even when I'm working, because I need to experience the story as a story and not as something I'm picking apart. So the enjoyment is actually doing that: reading a story. However, my interests lie, usually, in the type of work I'm excited about. If I'm working in the 1920s, I'll start reading stuff about Black Wall Street. So I get really hyped about the research. Because usually, when you're imagining something, you're not accurate.
That’s very true. I want to take it back to when you were a student at Hampton University. I was reading that your idea for a costume design career initially sparked when you're working on a showing of A Raisin in the Sun. Is that Is that correct?
The first play that I had to costume was Uncle Vanya/Three Sisters. Then I was in Raisin in the Sun as Beneatha [Younger] and I was also doing the costumes. I didn't sketch for Uncle Vanya/Three Sisters, I was just learning. But I got to see it on stage. So once I got to A Raisin in the Sun, I was like, ‘Oh, I've already researched what a costume designer does. I know, she has to do sketches.’ So I started sketching and laying out the composition. So it was really me cutting my teeth.
Looking back at yourself when you were a student just getting your footing, and now you’ve become an Oscar-winning designer, how does that make you feel?
Thank you. I look back and I see a girl who was actually accomplishing things, even in college. For my senior recital, I did Douglas Turner Ward’s Day of Absence. The night that we put the play on, it was to a packed audience and standing room only. I had no idea that it was like a little buzz on campus. So the theater was packed with the Hampton students. I look back at those times when things were successful for me in college, and I think that I carried them with me throughout my journey in my career. Th ere was this part of me that enjoyed the success of presenting costumes onstage and presenting myself as an artist. So every time I got an opportunity to do costumes leading up to the Oscars, it was a part of my successful journey. I can say that there were successes along the way that filled me with great joy and great pride. And the Oscars were the cherries on top.
A closeup of a costume worn by Eddie Murphy’s Prince Akeem character from 2021’s Coming 2 America PHOTO BY STINSON PHOTOGRAPHY LLC/COURTESY OF THE WRIGHT MUSEUM
Ruth E. Carter. PHOTO BY STINSON PHOTOGRAPHY LLC/COURTESY OF THE WRIGHT MUSEUM
I love that. Let's discuss the exhibit Afrofuturism and Costume Design at the Wright Museum. Black Panther is the epitome of “Afrofuturism”. But has your concept of Afrofuturism changed after working on the films?
It’s always been a multi-dimensional thing. The pure definition s using tradition and infusing technology and presenting it in a superhero genre. However, I feel like when I am on certain projects I am embodying Afrofuturism. With Do The Right Thing, Spike Lee had a vision for where he felt like the film industry would go. He had a vision of how we could actually tell the stories that we told, move the needle forward, set trends and be a part of the positivity of this new generation of filmmakers making films for an audience that was clearly not being represented in a positive way. We were seeing more gangbanger type thing. And at that time, that was a big concern of ours that we show images of ourselves in our own neighborhoods. I think that was a form of Afro-future. I'd like to say that we employed technology if you would, because in urban culture there's always a new trend in technology. Your cell phone…
Now, there's AI.
There's AI. On the set of Selma, Ava DuVernay was a publicist and now she's directing this film about our past. [2023's Origin]. She has a vision of herself and for her own future. She's embodying her own Afro-future. So I like to think of Afro futurism in a broader sense that you can bring technology and tradition to the filmmaking genre. And it doesn't have to be a superhero film to be Afro-future. When you walk through my exhibition, you actually do see how my trajectory and my career have led me to win this Oscar and be a part of the Black Panther franchise. You see a tradition as we use a Kente cloth in a lot of things. We use all kinds of Ankara fabrics in Do The Right Thing. Roots is in the exhibition and I used Indigo as my through line from Africa into slavery. I aged the clothes with the indigo color, and I kept the blue as a through line. When I look at everything all together, I even see that some of the saturated colors that I use in Dolomite, it does feel very culturally sound and very much a part of our community. We had a way in the ‘70s where we were dressing with afros and bell bottoms. We had an aesthetic and a lot of that is an anachronism to Africa. So I think Afro-future can be defined much more broader than just the standard way.
I agree. And I liked that you mentioned the use of Kente cloth because those very fine details really help to elevate not only the costume but just the story itself. Sometimes I find fault with the use of the actual word “costume” because it's more than that. To me, it's a character all in itself.
Yes, it definitely can be. And sometimes when we say costumes, we actually don't give it enough credit. There needs to be another term that goes along with that because what's important for us is that we tell these stories and they include how a person is represented by their clothing. That can be so clever and it can be so simple. It can be bigger than life and it can be understated. There's so many ways you go.
The Wright Museum’s Dolemite Is My Name costume collection; the Black Panther and Black Panther PHOTO BY STINSON PHOTOGRAPHY LLC/COURTESY OF THE WRIGHT MUSEUM
Going back to the exhibit, can you detail what the planning was like?
In the initial phase, we figured out how many films I had access to the costumes. I had a collection of my own and I also borrowed from other places. I noticed that some costume houses had some of my pieces from [the 1997 film] Amistad. So I went to them and borrowed them. Marvel is also a big part of the ask. We decided that this story was going to be about Africa, so every installation for each movie has a bit of a connection in terms of color or storytelling. I also have the zoot suits from Malcolm X. So it was important to tell this journey of us from landing as slaves to going through all of the years through the different films like Shaft and ending up in Wakanda.
You've worked on so many iconic films, but are there certain characters that you may see yourself in?
I was in Sparkle and The Butler for a second. But I gotta go through hair and make-up. I gotta be there all day. I can't do it. But when I think of the Rosewood movie with John Singleton and I saw how these little towns that were built in the middle of the woods, or they had these very simple houses, it reminded me of when I was a little girl going to Virginia and visiting my grandparents and their community and how they had gardens and laundry lines outside and how wonderful it felt to be in the South. Growing up in Massachusetts, to go down South was such a pleasure. I could see myself in the family of Rosewood. I can envision myself in films where I feel like there are people who look like me. The history of the light-skinned Black woman in the South has a definite story to be told.
Wakanda Forever costume collection. PHOTO BY STINSON PHOTOGRAPHY LLC/COURTESY OF THE WRIGHT MUSEUM
What would your costume be when you want to feel most powerful?
It’s when I can put on something that makes me feel like my figure is flattered. Whether it's a black dress and it's a gown. I'm elevated by the heels and my hair is perfect, but it's natural. I feel like I'm in a good place and my femininity is really at its peak, that's when I feel really powerful. Even though as an artist on set I'm like, ‘Let's change this. Let's do that.’ And I get into a grind or rhythm every day going in and when I really want to feel like ‘this is Ruth’, it's when I'm going somewhere special and I'm really feeling like I'm putting on my best dress.
What other dreams would you like to accomplish?
I want to do an exhibition like JAY-Z because I have saved everything: all my postcards from Spike, all my letters from growing up. My exhibition is just costumes. I do have some things from my early days and college sketches and stuff , but I want to show you the first letter that Spike wrote me when he asked me to come see She’s Gotta Have It back in the late ’80s. Just really get creative with it, and another wing to my exhibition that’s more Ruth Carter, the girl, the woman, the artist, the friend, the sister, the daughter. If I could tell that side of my story that’s like a dream, right?
This exhibit highlights your legacy. But I would love to know how you define it.
Well, I hope to leave a legacy that shows that I was an artist who used the medium of costumes, to elevate the culture and to redefine beauty standards. Also that the work is presented in a way that makes you proud. And I was a proud artist doing it.