‘Coming To America’ Sequel Recruits Oscar-Winning ‘Black Panther’ Costume Designer Ruth E. Carter
Coming to Americais making a fashionable comeback. The endlessly quotable, deeply hilarious 1988 comedy classic starringEddie Murphywas the essential clash of cultures story, following a crown prince of a fictional wealthy African nation who decides to find romance in America. So it’s appropriate that for theComing 2 Americacostumes, the sequel is looking to the costume designer of yet another fictional wealthy African nation.Ruth E. Carterhas been tapped to design the costumes for theComing to Americasequel, bringing with her the promise of lavish, Afrofuturistic designs and an Oscar award for designing just those kinds of costumes forBlack Panther.
Ruth E. Carter announced onInstagramthat she has been hired by Paramount Pictures to design the costumes forComing 2 America, the long-awaited sequel to the 1988 comedy classic that has been decades in the works. The sequel will reunite stars Eddie Murphy andArsenio Hall, who teased their reunion in the preliminary fitting shots shared by Carter.
“It’s official! Preliminary fitting forComing to America 2with Prince Akeem, Semmi and Oscar,” Carter wrote on her Instagram post.
A post shared by Ruth E. Carter (@therealruthecarter)
There couldn’t be a better choice to design the costumes ofComing 2 America. BeforeBlack Pantherbecame a watershed moment for African-Americans,Coming to Americawas that early cultural touchstone, presenting a vision of Black America that was lavish, gaudy, and best of all, funny. Murphy and Hall’s luxuriously-outfitted characters became sartorial icons, and a symbol of black excellence.
Cut to 30 years later, andBlack Pantheris doing the same, but on a much grander scale. Carter won an Academy Award for her Afrofuturistic-inspired costume designs, based on the cultural philosophy/aesthetic that imagines African culture at the cutting edge of technology. The fictional country of Wakanda, untouched by colonization and thriving for it,was the epitome of this term.
ThoughComing to Americais a comedy, there are more than a few similarities it shares withBlack Pantherand its vision of a African countries untouched by imperialism. Carter has shown that she has a unique, vibrant grasp on this vision. And it will be amazing to see her update that vision forComing 2 America.
