“Every time we did a prototype, it needed to evoke some kind of emotion for me,” says Ruth Carter.
If you’ve seen Marvel’s Black Panther, you know that one of the best things about the film is its use of costumes and sets not just to create the fictional world of Wakanda, but also to tell stories about Wakanda’s history and culture in every single frame. Just looking at this movie, which opened to the second-biggest four-day box office in film history, is half the fun.
That’s why I wanted to talk to Ruth Carter, who designed all of the movie’s costumes — from Black Panther’s sleek superhero suit to the Dora Milaje’s battle gowns to the plethora of other looks that tell you, at a glance, which part of Wakanda certain characters are from. And that’s to say nothing of the moments of high fashion, when T’Challa and his allies embark on exciting spy missions.
Carter joined me for the latest episode of my podcast, I Think You’re Interesting, to discuss her work on the new film, as well as her lengthy and impressive resume: Though Black Panther is Carter’s biggest movie yet, she’s been designing costumes since the 1980s. Over the past three decades, she’s worked on almost every one of Spike Lee’s films and received two Oscar nominations for her work on Lee’s Malcolm X and Steven Spielberg’s Amistad. Still, she’s never done a movie this big, much less a superhero movie.
I’ve always been curious about just what goes into designing a superhero suit so that it won’t be too claustrophobia-inducing for those who have to wear it. And while Carter revealed to me that the Black Panther suit featured little cut-outs that Chadwick Boseman could remove so they wouldn’t constantly cover his eyes and nose (which were digitally replaced in post), there’s also only so much the team can do to make such a tight-fitting outfit comfortable.
Here’s what she told me about the process of designing Black Panther’s suit, so it looks impressive but is also at least somewhat bearable to wear:
But just as important to superhero movies, increasingly, is finding a way to dress the film’s women, so that their clothes are beautiful but not exploitative, striking but also battle-ready. This is particularly true for Black Panther, where the all-female Dora Milaje are Wakanda’s fiercest warriors. Here’s how Carter describes that process:
For much more with Carter, including her thoughts on telling the story of Wakanda through clothing, her memories of working with great directors, and her feelings on what she’s learned about the black experience through the costume design for so many films that tell black stories, listen to the full episode.
To hear more interviews with fascinating people from the world of arts and culture — from powerful showrunners to web series creators to documentary filmmakers — check out the I Think You’re Interesting archives .
