Fit for a STAR

On the heels of her Oscar for the Black Panther costume designs, RUTH E. CARTER has outfitted Coming 2 America. The magic starts in her studio

Keziah Weir

Vanities /My Desk

I. COMING 2 AMERICA COSTUME SKETCH

'IfWakanda was the forward-thinking, technologically advanced part of Africa, then Zamunda is the fashion capital. I involved African designers: Laduma Ngxokolo, Palesa Mokubung."

2. COLOR SCALE

'I'm always studying color, and I paint when I have time off.

3. ACADEMY AWARD ANNOUNCEMENT FOR BLACK PANTHER

'Anytime you have Black and first in the same sentence, there was a system in place that excluded you."

4. POLAROID WITH SPIKE LEE ON THE SET OF DO THE RIGHT THING IN 1988

'When you go back to the same filmmaker like I did every year, for 10 years, people like to call it a shorthand. I feel like it's a long hand, in that you know so much—the work, the crux of why we're doing things, the passion behind the story."

5. DOLL GIFTED BY COSTUME DESIGNER MICHELLE COLE

'Michelle [Black-ish] gave this to me when I was nominated for Malcolm X. She, Sharen Davis [Watchmen], Francine JamisonTanchuck [Glory], and I started the Mildred Blount scholarship fund, named after the Black woman who did the millinery work in Gone With the Wind."

6. WACOM TABLET AND DISPLAYS

'I need them all. I can take an illustration and draw on top of it and send it back without using the other monitors. It looks a little crazy but it's actually very efficient."