She is truly a phenom!! ~ V
Ruth E. Carter doesn’t just design costumes, she builds worlds.
With a career spanning over three decades, Carter has become one of Hollywood’s most respected storytellers, using fabric, texture, and color to illuminate Black life on screen.
Whether through the vibrant collegiate style of “School Daze,” the regal futurism of “Black Panther,” or the haunting realism of “Malcolm X,” her work transcends wardrobe; it archives culture. Known for her precision, research, and deep emotional insight, Carter approaches every project as an opportunity to honor history and community with authenticity.
I just want everyone to know how much I care about our history and our stories. I’m a girl who was raised by a woman from Virginia, and I respected that.
I went to Hampton University, and I studied my history and the history of other people who lived in Virginia. It became my life’s mission to tell these stories in an authentic way.
In “Sinners,” the design titan once again proves why she’s in a league of her own. The film, set in 1930s Mississippi and layered with supernatural tension, required not just historical precision but spiritual and emotional resonance.
During our conversation, Carter opens up about everything from color symbolism and Southern folklore to the emotional details stitched into every look. Her passion for world-building remains as strong as ever, and her costuming in “Sinners” continues her mission of honoring Black stories with care, intention, and artistry.
ESSENCE: Can you walk me through your initial concept conversations with Ryan Coogler?
Ruth E. Carter: Ryan Coogler is the most generous, kind person when it comes to introducing you to materials and new art. The first conversation was about the blues and what it meant to Black people, especially those from Clarksdale, Mississippi. Most were disenfranchised.
They didn’t have the right to vote. They didn’t even have money. If they worked on a plantation, they were given plantation money. So the conversation about those details and what the film meant to him was the first motivation and inspiration for the story.
What mood boards, references, or inspirations helped shape your early ideas?
[Ryan] recommended a couple of books that we should read. One was “The Story of the Blues.” The other was a photo collection by Eudora Welty, who traveled through the South, particularly the Mississippi Delta, and took pictures of people in their normal everyday life.
From there, you start collecting images: blues players, people with guitars or banjos, sitting on porches, strumming, children listening. I usually print them out. We’re constantly putting up images of this time period: cars, fields, and cotton. You’ve created the world right there in the production office, and it’s inescapable.
For all of us, it’s important to examine what people went through during that time. What they had and what they didn’t have.
Disclaimer: We hold no rights to any of the pictures. No copyright infringement intended.
