- 2 months ago
Director: Roxy RezvanyDirector Of Photography: Henry GillEditor: Michael SuyedaProducer: Rashida JosiahCreative Production Coordinator: Anisa KennarCamera Operator: Laura AguileraAssistant Camera: Gordon WongGaffer: Maria KalecinskaSpark: David ZrolkoAudio: Jermaine MoneroRunner: Kenya BrownStylist: Grace PriemMakeup Artist: Adam De CruzHairstylist: Dionne SmithProduction Coordinators: Tanía Jones, Ericka Gourgues-LutranProduction Managers: Kristen Helmick, Anakha ArikaraSenior Production Manager: Venita Singh-WarnerLine Producer: Natasha Soto-AlborsAssistant Editor: Fynn LithgowPost Production Coordinator: Holly FrewSupervising Editor: Kameron KeyPost Production Supervisor: Alexa DeutschTalent Manager: Phoebe DishnerExecutive Producer: Rahel GebreyesSenior Director, Digital Video: Romy van den BroekeSenior Director, Programming: Linda GittlesonVP, Video Programming: Thespena GuatieriFlorist: Blooming HausFilmed on Location: Art'otel London Hoxton
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PeopleTranscript
00:00Hi Vogue, I'm Ruthie Carter and this is my life and looks.
00:08School Days. School Days was directed by Spike Lee but it was my first movie. First movie ever.
00:16Right here we have Giancarlo Esposito and Tisha Campbell. He's wearing a fraternity jacket. It's
00:22like the bomber jacket style. He has a bulldog embroidered on the chest. It says dog or die.
00:29I remember seeing Spike write dog or die on a little notepad and send it to me and said
00:36this is what goes on the Gamma's Letterman jacket. I came out of the HBCU experience so it was the
00:44perfect first film. So let's see what's next. Oh my goodness. I'm gonna get you sucker. I'm gonna get
00:50you sucker. We shot in Los Angeles with Kenan Ivory Wayans. This is Damon Wayans and Kadeem Hardison.
00:57They did a lot of acrobatics with their costume where they fell down the steps and it was really
01:04a fun experience. I'm gonna get you sucker was kind of like a spoof on blaxploitation films. We had
01:11Mr. Big, you know, we had Fly Guy. We had these great names and these great characters that really
01:18stemmed out of the blaxploitation era. Even the concept of overbold where you die because you're just
01:25wearing too many gold chains. It was funny and it was where we were at. I feel like we were getting
01:33out of an era of stereotypes and blaxploitation and really having fun with it and making fun of it.
01:42Seinfeld. I was the costume designer for the pilot of Seinfeld. Jerry was like, you know,
01:47come by and pull some stuff out of my place, you know, for me to wear. I remember saying, wow,
01:52everything's really organized and clean and neat, you know, for a guy who is kind of like a sports guy.
01:59I remember doing the glasses for George and him coming into his fitting and saying to me,
02:09you know, I'd like to wear glasses. You know, I'd like to have some wire rim glasses. And I had just
02:13finished doing Malcolm X and some of the props and things I still had. And I did have a pair of
02:20wire rim glasses that Denzel wore and I gave him to him to try on and put them on. He was like,
02:27yeah, this, I like this. This is it. Kind of was my Easter egg for years that actually George was
02:33wearing Malcolm X's glasses. Turning the page. Woo. Do the right thing. Spike Lee. And this was going to
02:41take place in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, New York city. We were very much a part of the Brooklyn community
02:48on every film with Spike. So doing a film like do the right thing really was a love letter to Brooklyn
02:56and, and to what the community does when they come together as the Korean markets and the Italian
03:03pizzeria and Spike really wanted to write a protest film and he wanted to show what happens when the
03:11Korean grocery comes into the neighborhood. Well, how does the neighborhood feel about them being there?
03:17And you know, what that racial tension created, you know, by the end of the film, we went from July to
03:24September. And so the temperatures change in on the East coast. So it was quite rigorous that summer,
03:30but we were always very conscious of the community and how to tell the story of the community. So we
03:37had Radio Rahim and we have him in this Bed-Stuy Do or Die t-shirt. And that was actually painted by a
03:45local Brooklyn artist, Nasha. There was so many elements like that in the film. You see the car watch.
03:52He has a leather lanyard. He's wearing like a leather necklace. He has his Jackie Robinson
03:59Dodgers shirt on. So, you know, that was the Spike Lee that I began to work with, who was very
04:05intentional, knew exactly what he wanted, would bring things to, you know, in that other people
04:11would wear either. He dictated who wore what tennis shoes too. So the Jordans on Buggin Out was
04:18definitely written in the script, but also chosen the style chosen by Spike Lee.
04:22Leon in the Five Heartbeats. It was Robert Townsend who was the director. And Robert was also one of the
04:33actors in the Five Heartbeats. He was Duck. They had all kinds of tricks in this film. They had the
04:40the costume that breaks away and they're in this space suit underneath. And we had to dress all of
04:47these background in the 1960s. It was the first time that I had done a period piece for film. I love
04:55doing period work and in theater, especially because you got to do the research and make some of the
05:02images that you see in the research come to life. We're going to go from Robert Townsend's Five Heartbeats
05:08to Malcolm X. This was a full experience for me. I got called by Spike Lee. He said,
05:15don't think about winning awards. Don't think about the Oscar or anything like that. Just do a
05:21good job. And actually it just made sense. You know, it was such a big project. It was such an
05:26important project to tell the life story of Malcolm X. I knew that he had an experience in prison in
05:35Massachusetts and I'm from Massachusetts. So I felt like maybe I could write the Department of
05:43Corrections and see his file. They gave me a date to come by and they sat me in a cubicle and files of
05:52files and of his letters, of his medical records, of his whole entire experience in Massachusetts was
06:01sat right in front of me. I would actually get to know the man, you know, behind the face a lot better.
06:07I could make decisions on clothing choices because I wouldn't know him better. That was the springboard
06:15to the whole experience of working with Spike Lee, working closely with Denzel Washington. I really
06:22wanted to support Denzel's performance during that time. Turning the page. Tina Turner. What's love got to do
06:30with it? Starring Angela Bassett as Tina Turner. Angela has been such a gift to me. We have gone on
06:42a journey and a half together. You know, seeing someone that committed, you become as committed. And
06:49this dress in particular was very special because Tina Turner was around when we created this dress. And she
06:56actually brought a CD cover to me with the picture of her in this dress. And she said, can you create
07:03this for Angela? And of course I was excited, but it was filming the next day. You know, my team was, you
07:10know, ready up for the challenge, you know, probably pulled an all-nighter to get this leather dress done
07:17exactly the way it looked on the CD cover that Tina Turner gave me. And so that next morning I'm at
07:26base camp and Tina Turner is walking across base camp. And she looks over at me and she's got her wig
07:33on a wig head and she's heading towards Angela Bassett's trailer. And she says, meet me over that Angela's
07:40trailer. And I opened the door and there was Tina Turner sitting back, uh, with Angela Bassett between
07:48her legs, sitting cross-legged on the floor. And Tina was brushing her hair, getting it prepared for her
07:57wig. And I remember looking at that and thinking that she was passing on a crown. It's a memory that I
08:04have personally that, uh, and an image that I'll never forget. We did the story of Ty Cobb. I had been
08:14nominated for Malcolm X and now Hollywood was taking notice that there was a costume designer out there
08:22that could do period epic films. We made all of these uniforms and it was really hard to find a material
08:31that looked like wool, but wasn't as heavy or as hot as well because the uniforms back then were
08:38boiled wool. I felt like I was a little bit of an underdog. You know, I'd come out of a lot of
08:44independent films with black filmmakers. And here I was working with Ron Shelton on Ty Cobb. It was like
08:51way outside of like what my normal film family was like. And Ron really embraced me,
08:59made me feel right at home. But Tommy was a consummate actor and, you know, he embraced the fact that I
09:07was this, you know, black girl working on this film. You know, he was tough on the crew and most of the time
09:15the ADs would give me the sides to bring into his trailer. I would be, um, welcomed into Tommy Lee Jones's, uh,
09:23artistic, uh, realm. Rosewood, the story of a black township that was completely burned down,
09:33like the Black Wall Street and so many others. It was directed by the late John Singleton,
09:39my brother. It was another period piece. It was the early twenties and Don Cheadle and Ving Rhames were
09:47the two male stars. Again, I got to explore many details about period clothes. Also, you know,
09:56the aging process. Aging and dying was my thing. I was an Asia dyer in the theater. So when I got to
10:03a project like this, I felt like I knew exactly how to paint the clothes because people don't realize
10:09that you can't just take something and put it on screen from a store or front, right from the sewing
10:15machine. You actually have to put the life in it. And the life that goes into it is from aging and dying.
10:22BAPS starred the late Natalie DeSalle, my buddy, and my other buddy, Halle Berry. My favorite scene
10:29is the scene in the bathroom at the bidet. And I read that in the script and I read how they couldn't
10:37control the water. They were trying to turn the spigots off and they just got even more erratic.
10:43So I thought, well, probably Halle Berry needs to have a rubber suit. So not only can she not control
10:50the spigots, but she can't control how slippery the whole room becomes as the water goes everywhere.
10:56So we created this orange latex unitard. It was really, I think, successful to have that
11:05jumpsuit in that scene with all the water. And every time I watch it, I crack up.
11:11I worked on Amistad with Steven Spielberg, Anthony Hopkins, and Jimen Huntson. I remember the
11:18interview. I walked into Amblin over on the Universal lot. Steven was shooting Jurassic Park at the time,
11:26and he was coming over during his lunch break. And I remember him coming in the room. There was no
11:32script. I couldn't read the script. He looked at me and he said, I really loved your work in Malcolm X.
11:38And it really made me feel really comfortable talking to him, you know, about what I knew about
11:44Amistad and what I could bring to the story. And he said, well, take the script home and read it and,
11:50you know, let me know if you want to work with me on this. And I thought to myself, I could probably
11:56call him back from the parking lot. It was a special film for me because I got to go to the opera houses
12:02in Italy to see all of the collections in London. And really, I had the opportunity to do my best work.
12:12Love and Basketball. Gina, she's a female director. Her story was deeply personal. Working with Sanaa,
12:21the great Sanaa Lathan is a wonderful actor, as well as Omar Epps. We went on this story about,
12:28you know, a young athlete in Los Angeles. And it's one of the great love stories, I think, in black cinema.
12:34Shaft. Samuel L. Jackson. You see Vanessa Williams in the background,
12:40and he's got on that laser cut Armani jacket. When Richard Roundtree was Shaft in the 70s,
12:48it's that black leather trench coat that he wears coming out of the subway. And you hear the music
12:55and you see him walking across the street. It became iconic. So we knew that we were going to
13:02collaborate with a fashion house and that one was Giorgio Armani. We were also flown to Milan to his
13:10fashion show in his apartment. And I kept thinking, how is he having a fashion show in an apartment?
13:17But I didn't realize it was the apartment building. And there was a floor that was dedicated to the show.
13:25So the experience of doing the film, collaborating with the great Giorgio Armani,
13:31is something that I will hold dear for always. Selma, directed by the great Ava DuVernay.
13:40Really great actors like David Oyelowo and Coleman Domingo. The set was the marches. The marches became
13:47the set. Hundreds of people came into the wardrobe department every day and got dressed in their
13:53marcher attire. And thankfully, there was a lot of documentation on the Selma to Montgomery march.
13:59So we could use our ebony magazines and all of those things that I have collected over the years
14:06to really see what kinds of articles of clothing they wore to march in. And so it was really a great
14:14experience to really examine all of that research and bring it to life here in this film.
14:21The late Chadwick Boseman. We really wanted to honor Africa and give the Panther suit
14:29a signature. So there's this veining that goes throughout the suit that has a lot of Wakandan
14:35language, honor, dignity, all of these great phrases, as well as a medallion in the center of the chest.
14:43But what I'm really most proud of is the surface Okavango Triangle. We named it the Okavango Triangle
14:49for the Okavango River that travels from north to south on the coast of Africa and means the family.
14:56And you see a lot of the triangle shape in the artistry. So it's the mother, the father, the child.
15:02And so we actually created this surface texture, but also this story along the body of this suit
15:11around it envelops him, it wraps him, and he is wrapped in Africa.
15:17Yellowstone. Kevin Costner. Taylor Sheridan called me, wanting me to work with him on Yellowstone.
15:24And I didn't think that I had the energy for it, but he said, you know, cowboys want to be cool.
15:30They like hip hop. And he was just rattling off the different kinds of genes and all the different
15:36ways that Hollywood has depicted the cowboys. But the way it is in real life is a real difference.
15:43So he intrigued me with that. And I went on to Utah to do the first season of Yellowstone with Kevin
15:50Costner and a really, really great cast. After working with Ryan Coogler on the Black Panther and
15:56the sequel, Wakanda Forever, he said that he had written a script that he told me about. And it was a
16:04period piece. I couldn't believe it. I just didn't expect this story. A 1920s story about vampires.
16:11He immediately talked to me about the color palette, that smoke would be in blue and stack would be in
16:18red. One wears a tie and a pocket square. One really doesn't care about a tie. He's got a holster
16:25and a gun under his jacket. Ryan respected the fact that I came up with Spike Lee, but Delroy Lindo
16:33was also in this film and he was in Malcolm X. And I remember during our camera test, Ryan just
16:42walking away from the set and the camera. We're kind of in the dark in the background behind camera.
16:50And he comes over to Delroy and I, and we're just having a conversation and he just hugs us.
16:55And he says, I just, I'm feeling so honored right now that the two of you are here. And it was a really,
17:03a beautiful moment. It took us by surprise. You had to stop and think about it for a moment and say,
17:09you know, here we're giving a new young filmmaker, um, our wealth of knowledge and experience. And we're
17:17bringing it to his film, Tiana Taylor and the Met Gala. I can't tell you how much fun this costume
17:26wants to make. And just the thought that it was going to walk the carpet. It was actually going to
17:31open the carpet at the Met Gala. It started with a zoot suit and we said, oh, it's got to have the
17:36stripes and it's got to have the right proportions. And, and then she says, and then I want to do a
17:41cape. And so we created the cape. I did illustrations for it. And then on the day of, she said, I need a
17:49do-rag. So we created a do-rag that was part of the cape. When someone is wearing a zoot suit, you
17:55almost get permission to be bigger than big because that is the origin of the suit. Thank you Vogue for
18:03this wonderful opportunity to give you a little snippet of my life in looks.
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