Ruth E. Carter Makes History with Second Oscar Win

Award season ended with a historic win for Costumes as Ruth E. Carter became the first Black woman to win two Academy Awards for Outstanding Costume Design. 

For her second win, Ruth won for her designs in Wakanda Forever: Black Panther 2 where she continued to build the costumes of kings, queens and natives of the afrofuturist world of Wakanda. There was also the under water kingdom of Talokan, which required Ruth and her costumes department to be excellent solution-based problem solvers. 

In building the costumes of Wakanda, Ruth Carter called it one of the biggest challenges of her career. She had to account for the physical immersion of her designs in water. “We put it underwater, and everything just went up. I had to remake things that were tested. I had to weigh them down, and sometimes they were too light, other times they were too heavy,” she told Variety.

The white 3D printed earrings she wore for the night spoke to her futurist tribal flare. They were the same 3D printed design she used to create Angela Basset’s crown in Wakanda. 

Carter also wore a yellow Maison Valentiono gown with pink platform heels that matched the pink lining of the dress. To top it off, she wore matching yellow fingerless opera gloves to hold her trophy. 

In addition to her two Oscar wins, Carter has a total of four career Oscar nominations, including for 1992’s Malcolm X and 1997’s Amistad. Her credits also include Selma and the Tina Turner biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It, for which Carter recreated Tina Turner’s most iconic looks from the ’70s and ’80s, including the famous gold metallic fringe dress and high-waisted miniskirts. Check out Ruth’s entire acceptance speech and some of her most iconic designs.