Black Panther took home the 2019 Academy Award for Best Costume Design for outfits that included an intricate collar and crown created using 3D printing. Costume designer Ruth E Carter accepted the award at the Oscars ceremony on 24 February 2019, when the superhero movie based on Marvel comic books received three prizes in total. Set in the fictional, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda, Black Panther broke box-office records and was widely considered groundbreaking for its almost entirely black cast, and the number of people of colour on the production team. Among the elaborate costumes worn in the movie were a crown and huge shoulder mantle donned by Queen Ramonda, played by American actress Angela Bassett. These designs were created in collaboration with Los Angeles-based Austrian architect Julia Koerner, who has previously worked on 3D-printed haute couture for Iris Van Herpen and Chanel. "Ruth E Carter had seen my 3D-printed work at the Paris haute-couture shows and contacted me," Koerner told Dezeen. "Together with film director Ryan Coogler, they wanted to bring 3D printing into the costumes of the movie Black Panther." "All I knew was that the movie was about Africa and technology," she continued. "Everything was top secret and I did not even know the name of the film, or the production." The beige adornments featured detailed filigree patterns, made possible by a technique known as selective laser sintering (SLS). This involves using lasers to heat a bed of powder, fusing the microscopic particles layer by layer, then removing the surrounding excess material to uncover the finished product. The designs were fabricated by Belgian company Materialise. Queen Ramonda's collar was fitted around the neck and over the shoulders, and fanned out in an arc behind her head. The matching headpiece, which was also created in black, flares out from the base towards an open circular rim. "We looked at traditional African Zulu tribes and the hats married woman wear," said Koerner. "We also looked into literature that showcased African design illustrations from traditional sources. "Based on these 2D patterns, I then developed the complex 3D structures in the computer with architecture computer software," she added. Related story Black Panther's "voluptuous" sets are influenced by Zaha Hadid, says production designer The costumes were designed before Bassett was cast in the role. Once confirmed, Koerner adapted the digital files to the actresses' measurements before sending them to the printer. Despite their delicate appearance, the 3D-printed pieces are both flexible and hardwearing. "I saw backstage footage where Angela Bassett was dancing and I was surprised how durable the pieces were," Koerner said. Carter also wore a custom 3D-printed collar, designed by Koerner and integrating Swarovski crystals, to the Oscars afterparty hosted by Vanity Fair. "Over the past two months, I developed a customised statement piece for Ruth," Koerner said in a statement. "We found inspiration in African imagery from the photographer Seydou Kaïta, and digitally crafted afro-futuristic patterns to an asymmetrical ensemble that references the 1950s fashion designs of Balenciaga." The architect also spoke to Dezeen about the advantages that technology adds to fashion design during an interview in 2014, when 3D printing was beginning to be used for apparel. It has since been utilised for everything from sports footwear to costumes for drag queens. Black Panther's Oscars success also included accolades for Best Production Design and Best Original Music Score, and nominations for Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, and the coveted Best Picture awards. The sets were based on afrofuturist architecture and influenced by the work of Zaha Hadid, production designer Hannah Beachler told Dezeen after the film's release in Spring 2018. Ahead of the 91st Academy Awards, we selected our top set designs from the nominees, including Roma, Isle of Dogs, and The Favourite – filmed at England's historic Hatfield House that was adapted by production designer Fiona Crombie. Images are by Matt Kenneda/Marvel Studios 2018.<doc-sep>Superhero blockbuster Black Panther has a lot to brag about. It's delighted critics and fans, crossed the $1 billion mark at the box office and become the first movie based on a comic book to net an Oscar nod for best picture. At Sunday's Academy Awards, Black Panther led to two historic firsts for African-American women: Ruth E. Carter won an Oscar for best costume design, and Hannah Beachler won an Oscar for best production design. (Black Panther itself became the first Marvel movie to win an Oscar for costume design -- and also picked up a third Oscar for best original score.) Enlarge Image Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney Those who've seen the movie and its Afrofuturistic-infused getups probably won't be surprised by the costume win. The Dora Milaje special forces stomp around in warrior boots and intricately detailed red and gold leather tunics with matching gauntlets. Killmonger looks intimidating (and so buff) in camo pants topped by a fitted blue shirt and fierce armor. And T'Challa's vast array of suits and dress shirts may all be black, but each has wonderfully distinct flourishes. You can thank Carter for making Lupita Nyong'o, Chadwick Boseman and Danai Gurira look even sexier than usual by dressing them in sleek formal wear for a night out at a Busan casino. Carter's been nominated for Oscars twice before, for her work in Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992) and Steven Spielberg's Amistad (1997). Before heading to Wakanda, Carter consulted with frequent Marvel collaborator Judianna Makovsky and other designers who'd worked with the studio. "They all said to me, 'This is a little bit different than your normal superhero film,'" Carter says over the phone from New York. "Actually, I'm really glad I didn't really know the language of the other superhero films when I worked on Black Panther, so that I could approach it from my own point of view and not be influenced by what I thought it should look like." Marvel Studios/Composite by Chelsea Shi/CNET Black Panther may have given us Angela Bassett's Queen Ramonda rocking a Zulu-inspired headdress as only she could do or a shirtless Michael B. Jordan's Killmonger in a long black hooded cardigan. But period pieces are the films that typically rule costume design at the Oscars, followed by fantasy movies and adaptations of children's books. You have to go all the way back to 1990 (Dick Tracy) to find a nominated title based on a comic book. "The ones that get the awards are usually the ones [where] you're creating everything, that the designer is really designing," three-time Academy Award nominee and costume designer Makovsky says by telephone from LA. "Superhero films have not gotten a lot of attention or love in that respect. And I think it's ridiculous because it's where costume design is going. It's technical. It's craftsmanship. It takes a lot of artisans to make these, and I think [that's] misunderstood." Chuck Zlotnick Makovsky knows her superhero films. She's worked closely with Marvel as costume designer on Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War and the upcoming Avengers: Endgame. When she started working at Marvel, Scarlett Johansson's character Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, was wearing high heels. "By the time I finished, [female characters] are in combat boots," she says. Before making sure the Avengers' footwear was appropriate for saving the world, she designed garb for The Hunger Games and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which earned her an Oscar nomination. Now playing: Watch this: Why we love the women of Marvel Carter shiny statue further celebrates Lupita Nyong'o's Nakia attired in different shades of green throughout the movie or Laetitia Wright's Shuri and her approach to a chic-yet-comfortable princess-scientist style. And the designer was honored on Feb. 19 with a Career Achievement Award from her peers at the Costume Designers Guild. The award recognizes leaders who've made a lasting impact on the field of costume design. But it hasn't been an easy journey. Marvel Studios "I was very fortunate to come into this industry with Spike Lee and Keenen Ivory Wayans and Robert Townsend during the time when black cinema was emerging again," Carter says. "Not everybody has that kind of opportunity, because you do have to fight to be seen and to be heard as a designer if you're African-American, if you're Asian-American, if you're Indian-American. You're not celebrated immediately, and sometimes ever. I'm 30 years in, and I'm being celebrated today. But I have 40 films behind me." Representation matters The numbers tend to be dire when it comes to female representation behind the scenes in Hollywood. According to a study by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, from 2007 to 2018 only 4 percent of the directors of the 1,200 top-grossing films released domestically were female. The same research shows that when it comes to the 265 top movies from 2016 to 2018, women accounted for only 15.5 percent of the editors, 3 percent of the directors of photography and 2.3 percent of the composers. But chances are that the costume designer for your favorite 2016-2018 movies was a woman. Females led 84.4 percent of the costume design departments. The Costume Designers Guild has 1,050 members, about 80 percent of whom are female. To illustrate what they'd like to see going forward, both Makovsky and Carter point to a definition of inclusivity that extends beyond gender. "Who knows what the possibilities are when inclusion creates another aspect of the art?" Carter asks. "So the Indian-American, the Asian-American, [the African-American] become the celebrated costume designer, and they bring their makeup to the canvas. We are going to start seeing something fresh and new, and that's what it should be about." Demystifying the Hollywood lifestyle And though it might seem like a life of pure glamour to be heaped with accolades, walk the Oscars red carpet, work with the hottest celebrities and get recognized by your peers, Carter and Makovsky are both quick to share just how brutal Hollywood can be. Now playing: Watch this: Powerful women of the Marvel universe "We work 16-hour days, seven days a week. Preproduction can be fairly civilized, but once you're shooting, you have no life," Makovsky says with a laugh. Granted, you do it for a certain amount of time, and you can have time off. But still, people need to work and get their health insurance and make money." Carter is even more candid when reflecting on the trade-offs she made for her passion. A widow, she more than once considered having children but never did. "We don't have a normal life," she says. "We give this life to the storytelling medium of filmmaking. We love it so much that we are willing to sacrifice."<doc-sep>
Allyssia Alleyne , CNN Written by The following article was published before the 91st Academy Awards. "Black Panther" went on to win the Oscar for best costume design. For more than 30 years, Ruth E. Carter has dressed the characters in seminal films about the African-American experience, from "Amistad" and "Selma" to "Love & Basketball" and much of Spike Lee's oeuvre. But her work for 2018's "Black Panther," which has earned her a third Oscar nomination for best costume design (once again, she could become the first black woman to take home the award), presented her with a unique opportunity to look beyond America, and into the future. With director Ryan Coogler and production designer Hannah Beachler, she crafted a new vision of Africa through Wakanda, a fictional country that leaves the West in the dust in terms of technological and social advancement. "I knew Marvel comic books and that this super fandom was big, so I was enthusiastic. I was curious," Carter said. "I thought this has got to be an important film, and it had to be something that was Afrofuturist ... I would have to represent images of beauty, forms of beauty, from the African tribal traditions so that African-Americans could understand it; so that (non-black) Americans could understand African-Americans better; so we could start erasing a homogenized version of Africa." The Dora Milaje, an all-female security squad, wear tabords covered in intricate beading. Credit: Courtesy Matt Kennedy/Marvel Studios Her final vision was an unabashedly slick hybrid of traditional garments and motifs mined from across the continent. (She had a massive team of 100 buyers to source pieces for inspiration.) She describes the result as a "quick study of the tribes, the cultures and the traditions of beauty" that different communities used to present themselves. The Dora Milaje, fierce female warriors led by Danai Gurira's Okoye, wear handcrafted metal neck rings inspired by those worn by the Southern African Ndebele tribe, and tabards covered in the type of intricate beading that proliferates across the continent. Angela Bassett, as Queen Ramonda, wears 3D-printed versions of a Zulu married woman's hat as her crown. When undercover in a South Korean casino as the spy Nakia, Lupita Nyong'o wears a striking dress hand-painted with Wakandan text -- a nod to kente cloth native to Ghana. The 3D-printed crown worn by Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) was based on a Zulu married woman's hat. Credit: Courtesy Matt Kennedy/Marvel Studios While Carter eschewed the wearable tech that has featured prominently in the comics ("I didn't want you to look at it 10 years from now -- three years from now -- and think that looks outdated") she embraced the bright colors characteristic of the medium -- vibrant reds for the Dora Milaje; earth tones for Nyong'o; a remarkable green suit by British designer Ozwald Boateng, who is of Ghanaian descent, for an elder statesman, accessorized with a matching lip disk. The titular Black Panther, T'Challa, played by Chadwick Boseman, stands out in his monochrome suit. Ruth E. Carter Credit: Rich Fury/Getty Images "I think people have their own idea of what modern and futuristic is. Modern and futuristic to some means that you wear black and you're very simple and you're very monochrome, but ... (I used) color because it was Africa, and Africa uses a lot of color. You see the Maasai tribe in beautiful reds; you see the Turkana tribe in beautiful purple. That's just a fact of life," Carter said. Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) -- here with the Black Panther himself (Chadwick Boseman) -- wears a kente cloth-inspired dress covered in Wakandan text. Credit: Courtesy Matt Kennedy/Marvel Studios "If (Wakanda is) a melting pot of all of these different cultures, and they're moving forward with all of their forward thinking and technology, I don't think that they necessarily leave their cultural colors." Since its release last February, the support for "Black Panther" has been mighty. Outside of its seven Academy Award nominations (including a groundbreaking Best Picture nod) and global box office takings totaling $1.347 billion , it's resonated with black people across the diaspora in a profound way. Mining Tribe Elder (played by Connie Chiume) wears a wig similar to hairstyles popular with the Himba tribe of Namibia. Credit: Courtesy Marvel Studios Carter was delighted and proud to see theatergoers around the world attending screenings in Wakanda-inspired ensembles . ("African-Americans were doing the best they could, and they were doing a good job, but Africans were like woo!