Ruth E. Carter has made history once again by becoming the first Black woman to win two Oscars for costume design. She won her latest award at the 95th Academy Awards for her work on the Marvel sequel “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”. Carter previously won the award in 2018 for her work on “Black Panther”, becoming the first African American to win in the category.
In her acceptance speech, Carter paid tribute to her mother, Mabel Carter, who had passed away the previous week, and asked “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman to look after her. Carter also spoke about her relationship with her mother, saying that she was her “ride-or-die” and that she knew her mother was proud of her achievement.
Carter has been a leading costume designer in some of Hollywood’s biggest films, including Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X” and Steven Spielberg’s “Amistad”. She has also received praise for her work on period ensembles in other projects such as Lee Daniels’ “The Butler”, Ava DuVernay’s “Selma” and the reboot of “ROOTS”. Her work has seen her create costumes for Oprah Winfrey, Denzel Washington, Eddie Murphy, and even Jerry Seinfeld for the “Seinfeld” pilot.
Carter played an influential role in making “Black Panther” a cultural phenomenon as she infused the pride of the African diaspora into the character’s stylish and colorful garments, bringing Wakanda to life. She wanted to transform the presence of Queen Ramonda – played by Oscar nominee Angela Bassett – into a queen in the first film to be a ruler in the sequel.
Carter said she hopes her historic win opens the door for more opportunities for women of color in the industry. She shared that she had to pull herself up from her bootstraps, coming from a single-parent household and studying hard to become a costume designer. Through her work on “Malcolm X,” she reached new heights and propelled herself into “Hollywood makeup”, offering her more opportunities to work with directors who had different points of view and scripts.
Source: www.tbsnews.net