Long before Ruth E. Carter became one of Hollywood’s most celebrated costume designers, she was a young girl in Springfield, Massachusetts, teaching herself to sew on her mother’s old sewing machine at the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. She was the youngest of eight children raised by a single mother, and the odds of the path she would eventually carve for herself in the film industry were not obvious from the outside. What was obvious, even then, was a creative drive that would not sit still.

Carter pursued a degree in Theatre Arts at Hampton University, a school that offered no specialization in costume design. That did not stop her. She acted in plays, spent hours in the library and taught herself the fundamentals of the craft through sheer determination. It was the kind of self-directed learning that would define her entire approach to the work that followed.

A partnership that shaped everything

After graduating and working briefly as an intern in the costume department at CityStage and then at the Santa Fe Opera, Carter made her way to Los Angeles in 1986. That move led to a meeting with director Spike Lee that would become one of the most significant creative partnerships in modern cinema. Over the next 25 years and across 14 films together, including Do the Right Thing and Malcolm X, Carter developed her understanding of storytelling, culture and character in ways that transformed how she approached every project.

Lee gave her the space to express her vision authentically and with purpose, and that foundation proved essential as her career expanded to include work with directors like Steven Spielberg on Amistad and John Singleton on Rosewood and Baby Boy. Her work on the television series Being Mary Jane, particularly through the character played by Gabrielle Union, demonstrated her ability to use clothing as a precise storytelling tool even outside of the feature film world.

The work that made history

Everything Carter had built across three decades of work culminated in Black Panther. The 2018 Marvel film was not simply a box office phenomenon. It was a cultural moment, and Carter’s costume design was central to why it resonated so deeply. Drawing on the richness and diversity of African cultures and aesthetics, she created a visual world that felt both entirely original and deeply rooted in something real and meaningful.

In 2019, she won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for the film, becoming the first Black woman in history to win in that category. It was a milestone that had been a long time coming and one that the industry acknowledged with the weight it deserved. She did not stop there. Her work on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever earned her a second Oscar in 2023, making her one of the rare costume designers to win the award twice.

Her recognition extended beyond the Academy. Carter also became the first Black costume designer to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a distinction that cemented her place not just in the history of her craft but in the broader story of Hollywood itself.

A fifth nomination and a chance at history

As the 98th Academy Awards approach, Carter finds herself in remarkable territory once again. Her work on the film Sinners, which features Michael B. Jordan in a multi-layered performance that demanded equally layered visual storytelling, has earned her a fifth Oscar nomination. That nomination makes her the most-nominated Black woman in Academy Awards history, a record that reflects the consistency and ambition she has brought to her work across an entire career.

The meticulous attention to detail she brought to Sinners, particularly in how costume choices served the specific characters Jordan portrays, has drawn widespread praise from critics and industry peers alike. Should she win, it would be her third Oscar, a figure that would place her in extraordinarily rare company.

What comes next

Looking beyond the awards season, Carter is set to reunite with Jordan for The Thomas Crown Affair, a project he will both direct and star in. The collaboration continues a creative relationship that has already produced some of the most visually striking work in recent American cinema.

As the Essence Black Women in Hollywood event celebrates her contributions, Carter‘s story serves as something more than a career retrospective. It is a demonstration of what sustained creative vision, combined with the willingness to learn and push boundaries, can produce over a lifetime in the arts.

Source: Essence Magazine