From Hollywood to Frostburg: Ruth Carter Engages with Students

On Oct. 3, Ruth Carter, an art and costume designer, visited Frostburg State University to share her story with Frostburg students. She was born in Springfield, Mass. and is known for designing costumes for famous movies like Malcolm X, Sparkle, and Selma, but she came to Frostburg State to talk about her recent work in one of the most famous movies in Marvel, Black Panther.

She starts off by discussing the tribes of “Wakanda,” a fictional country created by the Marvel Comics located in Sub-Saharan Africa. She first discussed the different tribes which included border, merchant, mining, golden, artisan, and river tribes, and how she reinvented the traditional clothing. She then showed the clothing in the movie.

She also discussed how she met Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) in her office to have him try on the suit. She mentioned how Boseman felt like the suit was not flexible enough, and he could not breathe in the head piece. She made adjustments and showed the audience the final product, as well as the differences between the first and final product. She did the same thing with the rest of the cast – explaining the origin of the costumes, and how they each related to the African culture.

She continued talking about how fashion meets fantasy. About fifteen minutes before set, Lupita Nyong’o, who played Nakia, told Carter, “I feel like I need to have my arms out.” The audience laughed. She said the Black Panther costume was about $350,000 and the other cast members’ costumes were about $ 200,000. She commented, “I can get a house with that kind of money.”

The audience was shocked by her hand made sketches and how they were translated to technology. She finished her presentation and asked the audience if they had any questions.

A curious student asked, “How did you guys wash the suits?.”  Everyone spilled in laughter, but she answered, “we didn’t, but we used vodka to refresh the costumes and washed the body suits that go underneath the suits.”

For more on Carter, please visit: https://ruthecarter.com/