THE TRUTH WITH RUTH...CARTER.
Who is Ruth Carter?!!? Ruth Carter the Visual Storyteller. Before the movie Black Panther, you would only hear her name in the film/entertainment industry but now she is finally getting her due credit and is a household name. Many of us are just learning about Ruth’s film credits but this icon has wardrobed all of our favorite movies from Love & Basketball and B.A.P.S to Do the Right Thing, Dolemite is my Name, What’s love got to do with it, Malcolm X, Black Panther and the upcoming Coming to America 2, just to name a few. Ruth is so phenomenal, I would need to write a book for all her knowledge but instead I’ll give you all a few facts about her life.
Ruth loves painting (She picked this up from her brother Roy who is a phenomenal artist)
Ruth’s mom studied Psychology so she credits her for her ability to empathize so well.
Ruth converted islam and became muslim in 10th grade, which is when she began reconstructing clothing, turning her bangs into long dresses.
Ruth then switched schools and decided she wanted to be known as a business professional so she switched up her look and because her classmates thought she was a substitute or new school counselor she realized changing your look could change people’s view of you.
Ruth attended Hampton University, first to pursue Special Ed, then for costume design. She wanted to work at a deaf theater.
Ruth wanted to be an actress before she became a Visual Storyteller.
Spike-Lee recruited Ruth after he saw her designs in a play she worked at a dance theater.
Ruth is the first African American to win an Oscar for Best Costume Design.
**For more on Ruth, you can check out the mini- documentary episode she has on Netflix. It’s called Abstract and she is in The Ruth Carter episode!
Ruth Carter, the living legend and visual storyteller has a new clothing line with H&M. She recently hosted an event in honor of it, check out the pics I took at the event below. Shoutout to Niquee (@_niqueej) for telling me about it!!
** When I first walked into this event, I cried because I was so happy to be at a fashion event that told the history of a person of color. One of the reasons, I stopped going to school for design is because I was so tired of seeing Fashion History books that did not include black designers so to be at this event surrounded by black people who were learning about a black person making history in the fashion/film industry was an outer body experience that I longed for.
