美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Black Panther' Costume Designer Draws On 'The Sacred Geometry Of Africa'

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Over the last few months, weeks, days, hours, you might have heard of a certain movie that is in theaters this weekend.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BLACK PANTHER")

FOREST WHITAKER: (As Zuri) I give to you the Black Panther.

MCEVERS: "Black Panther" is the latest offering from Marvel 1 and Disney. If you don't already know the story, a quick synopsis 2 - it's about T'Challa, the Black Panther and king of Wakanda. Wakanda is a technologically 3 advanced African country. It sits upon a rich deposit of the metal vibranium, the strongest substance in the Marvel world. Now, when you see the movie - and a lot of you will - you'll notice quickly how Wakanda looks like the future with healing tables and hovercraft all powered by vibranium.

If you look at the costumes, you can see a future that is grounded in the past. Designer Ruth E. Carter pulled colors, shapes, jewelry 4 and textures 6 from tribes all over Africa. And she wants you to take notice, starting with the Black Panther suit.

RUTH E CARTER: I put a tiny triangular 7 surface pattern all over the suit to give him texture 5. But that triangle is the sacred geometry of Africa. I call that pattern the Okavango pattern.

MCEVERS: The concept for the suit came from Marvel's character designer, Ryan Meinerding. The details are all Ruth Carter and her team.

CARTER: I felt that it made his suit have this character that would in the wide shot make him this superhero, but in the close-up you'd see this beautiful pattern that would turn him into this African king.

MCEVERS: There is a lot of thought behind every costume in this movie, like the ones for the Dora Milaje, the highest-ranking fighting force in Wakanda. They are all women.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BLACK PANTHER")

DANAI GURIRA: (As Okoye) Wakanda forever.

CARTER: When you look at the costume you see a military uniform, a military uniform that's not crafted for a man. It's crafted for a woman. It is bright red. And its color is inspired by the Maasai tribe or the Turkana tribe that wear this really beautiful, vibrant 8 red. There's also a little gold and a little orange in their costume that represents the vibranium that is laced within the fibers 9 of the costume to make it strong. There's a leather - brown leather harness that wraps the body of the Dora Milaje in a beautiful way that honors the female form.

There's a tabard that runs down the front of their costume that's beaded in the tradition of Africa throughout the continent as especially within the Turkana and the Maasai tribe because I really wanted this to have a feeling that if you were a aspiring 11 Dora Milaje, if you were training and you were granted the position to be a member, that you would be presented with this honor and this beautiful uniform.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MCEVERS: And then there are costumes that Ruth Carter and her team created to define a character like Shuri, tech genius and T'Challa's younger sister.

CARTER: Shuri is this Tony Stark 12 of Wakanda. She designs the suit.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BLACK PANTHER")

LETITIA WRIGHT: (As Shuri) I have some new tech to show you. It is lighter 13, it absorbs energy, and it's got some swag.

CHADWICK BOSEMAN: (As T'Challa) Very nice.

CARTER: When we first meet Letitia Wright, who plays Shuri, she's wearing a traditional costume. And she shouts up to the rest of the community and she's like, can we get a move on? This stuff is uncomfortable. So she told us right away that that's not where she comes from. We meet Shuri in her lab. And one of the biggest things was, how do we not put lab coats on people? It just seems like so cliche 14 and so done. And I thought, let's just make her clothes. And we used fabrics 16 that were kind of forward-looking - you know, a little bit of mesh 17 and overlays. I tried to find colors that were youthful.

She didn't need to wear a lab coat. So her first dress is a white strapless dress. And we created the front of it to be this cylindrical 18 round shape. And again, I was trying to connect shapes within Wakanda. So you see them repeat. So the bust 19 area around the front of her white dress is just a round semicircle, and it's overlaid with a mesh white fabric 15 that we ruffled 21 along the back. And the ruffle 20 wasn't a perfect ruffle. It was just kind of a ruffling 22 of mesh fabric that just seemed different and really kind of OK.

(SOUNDBITE OF LUDWIG GORANSSON SONG, "UNITED NATIONS/END TITLES")

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS #1: (Vocalizing).

CARTER: I learned from my experience on the "Black Panther" more than ever that costume design is art. I could communicate and tell stories through this wonderful medium of adornment 23. The adornment of Africa has always been a part of their beauty from scarification to bead 10 work to woodwork. You know, I fell in love with it even more.

(SOUNDBITE OF LUDWIG GORANSSON SONG, "UNITED NATIONS/END TITLES")

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS #2: (Singing in foreign language).

MCEVERS: That was Ruth Carter, costume designer for "Black Panther." If you want to see what some of those costumes look like, head over to npr.org/allthingsconsidered.

(SOUNDBITE OF LUDWIG GORANSSON SONG, "UNITED NATIONS/END TITLES")

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS #2: (Singing in foreign language).