The African American Museum in Philadelphia presents Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design

This touring exhibition (initially curated by Rafael Gomes and Christina Frank with Julia Long at Savannah’s SCAD Museum of Art) combines Carter’s original sketches, vision boards, and designs, spanning three AAMP galleries and showcasing more than 30 years of her work. I didn't think the museum could top its 2024 modern art exhibition from the collection of Hollywood actor and art philanthropist CCH Pounder (here’s my review), but it has.

This is an exhibition done right. The historical research, the sewing artifacts, and the pop culture items make it perfect for cinema lovers, Black history buffs, sewing historians, Marvel fans, and even the lesson-averse, social-media focused school kid.

The Ann Lowe of Afro-Futurism

As an amateur sewist and full-time geek (who once cosplayed as a Dora Milaje), I found this show delightfully insightful. Carter has worked with directors Spike Lee, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Robert Townsend, John Singleton, Charles S. Dutton, Lee Daniels, Ava DuVernay, and Ryan Coogler. Almost all of her films become box office successes. She is the modern Ann Lowe, an African American designer who received the 1961 Couturier of the Year award and designed Jackie Kennedy’s wedding dress as well as the dress Olivia de Havilland wore when she won an Oscar in 1946, though Lowe was not credited at the time. (Winterthur mounted an exhibition dedicated to Lowe in 2023.) Carter not only follows in Lowe's footsteps with her Hollywood knowledge and intricate seams, but will costume the upcoming Lowe biopic.

Carter is the queen of Afro-Futurism. During the November 1 opening at AAMP, her speech defined Afro-Futurism as "connecting wisdom" and linking "where we've been" with "what's possible." Before looking forward to create her designs, she always looks back to the past to ground them thoroughly in historical knowledge. Her intensively researched costumes incorporate regional and cultural textile familiarity. Instead of relying on the ease of modern materials to reconstruct historical costumes, she limits herself to the cloth available at that location and time period, yet still creates a spectacular fit.

Carter up close

For 2019’s Dolemite is My Name, she designed a caped jumpsuit using actual polyester for Da'Vine Joy Randolph's Lady Reed character. For Selma, she reviewed 1960s Life and Ebony magazine covers to reconstruct Coretta Scott King's wardrobe. For Black Panther, she looked at several cultures within continental Africa including the Dogon tribe in Mali, the Himba tribe of Namibia, the Turkana and Maasai people in Kenya, and the Sotho and Ndebele people of South Africa. For the clothes of the four children (Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair) murdered in the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, she recreates the gingham and taffeta-style dresses popular in that era.

Seeing the clothing in person highlights Carter's dedication to going above and beyond standard costume design. She doesn’t just create costumes of the period. She frequently embeds subtle messages into the fabric which won't necessarily display on camera, but indicate the character's backstory.

In the hit 2025 film Sinners, the costume of Annie, the Living Ancestor, is seemingly utilitarian. However, the skirt print contains subtle star bursts while the deceptively rough top has reflective silver thread sewn throughout, showing she isn’t just a working-class woman. For 2021’s Coming 2 America, Carter pulled inspiration from Eddie Murphy’s 1988 original. Murphy’s King Akeem rocks a metal lion epaulette reflective of the full fur lion head worn by James Earl Jones’s King Jaffee in the original. The tiny, human-shaped chains for Arsenio Hall’s Semmi character carried into the brocade trim for Semmi’s velvet cape. The bottom half of Queen Ramonda’s dress in Black Panther contains slight Wakanda symbols, easily overlooked by the camera.

Seeing the collection up close gave me a heightened appreciation for Carter’s skills. From synthetic brocade to sumptuous velvet with silk lining to molded poly foam to metallic shoulder decorations embedded with lights, she is clearly a master of her craft able to infuse multiple fabrics with numerous cultural influences. She uses original paintings of Queen Isabella II to recreate her gowns in cotton, silk, and velvet in Amistad. Even for seemingly simple costumes like Spike Lee’s pizza boy uniform in Do The Right Thing or the African servants in Roots, the incredible sewing skill shines through within the seams and stitches.

Beyond Wakanda

I am glad AAMP continued many of the original exhibition’s flourishes, maintaining its thoughtfulness. Each costume platform contains a translation of the film’s title into the Wakandan symbolic vernacular, which unites all of the costumes under the Afro-futuristic theme. Each display incorporates a different textured or geometric printed wall. Because Carter used so many historical influences, the informational placards make the exhibition educational.

Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design is on view at AAMP through September 6, 2026, and I urge everyone to visit. Carter is an extremely imaginative and prolific designer. Her vast textile knowledge and historical grounding make it an educational experience. But for film buffs, superhero fans, and costume geeks, seeing that material up close is brilliant. As an amateur crafter, I loved seeing her original vintage White sewing machine. And my nerdy self was in geek heaven seeing Black Panther costumes up close. I hope my fellow Philadelphians take advantage of the opportunity to view this show and go beyond Wakanda Forever: it’s also Ruth E. Carter (and her Afro-Futuristic designs) Forever.