Arts & Humanities Speaker Series
Celebrated for her work in bringing to life the vibrant and culturally rich costumes of Black Panther, Carter made history as the first Black person to win the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, securing Marvel Studios' first Oscar in the process. She repeated this groundbreaking success with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to become the first Black woman to win multiple Academy Awards in any category and the first costume designer to win for both a feature film and its sequel. Most recently, for her work in Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, Carter earned her fifth Academy Award nomination, becoming the most nominated Black woman in Oscar history.
Carter’s work shines in Sinners, the box-office hit and most nominated film in Oscar history with 16 nominations, where she elevated the film’s narrative through bold, symbolic costuming—most memorably in its iconic dance sequence—demonstrating her unmatched ability to fuse story, movement, and design into cultural spectacle. Through various period textures and symbolism, her costumes bridge the physical and the metaphysical, turning history into living memory and redefining the art of visual storytelling.
In Sinners, Carter’s costume design transcends the realm of wardrobe, becoming a spiritual and emotional vocabulary that reveals the hidden truths of each character. Her palette of worn blues, faded cottons, and distressed fabrics evokes both the spiritual fatigue and quiet resilience of sharecropping and the Jim Crow South. Her garments ground the film’s supernatural themes in human truth—Stack’s tailored suits mirror control and ambition, Smoke’s worn fabrics reveal unrest, and Annie’s layered cottons and sacred pouches embody ancestral power and grace.
Carter's costumes for Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever are a tribute to the people of Africa, blending traditional and contemporary elements with modern technology. She skillfully created Afrofuturistic designs that honor ancient cultures, empower the female form, and provide unparalleled representation on screen. In Wakanda Forever, she expanded her innovative designs, introducing new superhero costumes and the underwater world of Talokan. Tasked with creating hundreds of costumes, Carter crafted visually stunning pieces inspired by both Wakandan culture and post-classic Mesoamerican Maya culture, merging history with imagination.
With over three decades of experience and more than 70 credits in film, television, and theater, Carter has worked with directors such as Spike Lee, Steven Spielberg, Ava DuVernay, and Ryan Coogler. Her designs span iconic films like Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, What’s Love Got to Do with It, Amistad, Selma, Dolemite Is My Name, Coming 2 America, and the Black Panther franchise. Through her meticulous costume design, Carter enriches narratives, especially those centered on African American experiences, solidifying her as a preeminent voice in period genres and Afro aesthetics.
Her career achievements include Academy Award nominations for Malcolm X (1993) and Amistad (1998), as well as an Emmy nomination for the miniseries reboot of Roots (2016). In 2019, she was honored with the Costume Designers Guild’s Career Achievement Award and, in 2021, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A member of the Board of Governors for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Carter represents the Costume Designers Branch, championing diversity in storytelling.
She continues to expand her influence beyond film, designing Teyana Taylor’s unforgettable Black Dandy look for the 2025 Met Gala and producing a major project on legendary couture designer Ann Lowe in partnership with Serena Williams’ production company—spotlighting the legacy of a fashion pioneer long overlooked in history.
Carter's impact in costume design extends beyond the screen and is celebrated in her traveling exhibition “Afrofuturism in Costume Design,” and her book The Art of Ruth E. Carter, released in May 2023. The exhibit showcases 80 costumes from Carter’s illustrious filmmaking career, infused with artistry, offering an intimate glimpse into her creative process and the iconic designs she’s brought to life on screen. The exhibition has been in residence in 10 cities and is currently at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, Pa.
Carter is beloved in her hometown of Springfield, Mass., where a mural of her life and career is displayed at Rebecca Johnson Elementary School. She was awarded the key to the city in 2021 for her achievements and service. Carter is a proud graduate of Hampton University, Virginia (historically Black colleges and universities), and has earned honorary doctorates from Hampton, Suffolk University in Boston, Mass., and Smith College in Northampton, Mass. Carter’s contributions to costume design are a national treasure, preserving history, celebrating identity, and reimagining the future of Black culture on screen.
