Queen Of The Screen: Ruth E. Carter Is The Academy Award Nominated Costume Designer Behind Your Favorite Films’ Winning Wardrobes

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Ruth E. Carter Nominated For Best Costume Design At Academy Awards

This Black History Month we have been sharing stories of notable black women worthy of so much love and recognition and costume designer Ruth E. Carter definitely fits the bill! Carter is currently nominated for the Best Costume Design award at this Sunday’s Academy Awards for the work she accomplished with ‘Black Panther’. This is actually her third nomination (her first was in 1993 for her work on Spike Lee’s Malcolm X).

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Carter was also honored with the career achievement award Tuesday night at the Costume Designers Guild Awards. Judith Light, Halle Berry and Danai Gurira were there to present her.

“Some of your peers get awards all the time or are at the top of the heap, and you’re trying to climb your way up. You wonder what they think of you and your films. You wonder if they’ve been watching,” Carter said in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter about the honor. “So that’s, to me, the affirming award that says ‘We love you.'”

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Carter told HR the best recognition she could receive is from the kids who proudly sported Black Panther costumes last Halloween, after years of America prioritizing Superman, Batman and Spiderman.

“When we designed a superhero that was a black man and a kingdom that was in Africa, it took those children to a place where they could claim and they could fly. And it’s the best honor anybody could ever be bestowed,” Carter says. “They knew the spirit and they all secretly hoped some of the Black Panther power would be bestowed on them just by wearing the clothes. … They were so ready for it. We knew they were ready for it. And we gave it to them.” She added that catering to Marvel fans has raised the bar for her work: “I was working for Marvel, I was like ‘Oh my God, I’ve got fans to answer to.'”

Hit the flip for more details about Ruth E. Carter including what’s next for her.

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Carter says when she worked with Spike Lee on ‘Malcolm X’ he told her at the start of the project:

“Don’t think about an Oscar, just do a good job,” she says. Twenty-five years later, Carter joined Lee and Amy Adams onstage as the first three nominees called for the 2019 Academy Awards class photo at the Feb. 4 luncheon — her third nom, for Black Panther, and his first as director for BlacKkKlansman. “I’m so proud to stand next to him,” Carter says. “I just felt like we were having another life milestone, history-making moment.”

Source: Shamayim / Courtesy of Netflix

Carter says she doesn’t know anything about a Black Panther sequel just yet but she will be reuniting with Spike Lee soon — in Thailand for “a very special project.”

“Once again [Lee] has an amazing script and amazing art piece … and it’s exciting because we’re here together at the Oscars and now we’re going to move on to there and get a movie done.”

Carter and Spike Lee have collaborated on 12 films together so this will be their lucky 13th time!

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Carter is an HBCU grad from Hampton University! She told the “Strong Black Lead” podcast that if iPhones existed in her early days, a moment she wishes she captured was Tina Turner braiding Angela Bassett’s hair while she sat on the floor on the set of What’s Love Got to Do With It.

Carter also said if there was a modern day sequel of B.A.P.S set in 2019 (costumes she designed to reflect hair dressers in Atlanta) the lead character’s looks would reflect a more evolved Atlanta woman along the likes of NeNe Leakes and Phaedra Parks from “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.”

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Carter’s work will be seen in ‘Dolemite is My Name’ – the biopic of comedian, actor, and filmmaker Rudy Ray Moore featuring an all star cast including Eddie Murphy releasing on Netflix in the fall.

Hit the flip to watch her talk about her process