Skip to content

Top Navigation

EW.com Entertainment Weekly EW.com Entertainment Weekly
  • TV
    • TV Reviews
    • TV Reunions
    • TV Recaps
    • Animated
    • Comedy
    • Crime
    • Drama
    • Family
    • Mystery
    • Reality
    • Sci-fi
    • Thriller
  • Movies
    • Movie Reviews
    • Trailers
    • Film Festivals
    • Movie Reunions
    • Movie Previews
  • Music
    • Music Reviews
  • Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Author Interviews
  • Theater
    • Theater Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • Gaming
  • Events
    • Comic-Con
  • Celebrity
  • Awards
    • Oscars
    • Emmys
    • Golden Globes
    • SAG Awards
    • Grammys
    • Tony Awards
  • Streaming

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletter
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Order Past Issues this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe

Explore EW.com

EW.com Entertainment Weekly EW.com Entertainment Weekly
  • Explore

    Explore

    • Every RuPaul's Drag Race season 13 runway look, ranked

      Every RuPaul's Drag Race season 13 runway look, ranked

      Read More
    • Spread the love with EW's Valentine's Day gift guide

      Spread the love with EW's Valentine's Day gift guide

      Read More
    • The Masked Dancer revealed: Every unmasked celebrity on season 1

      The Masked Dancer revealed: Every unmasked celebrity on season 1

      Read More
  • TV

    TV

    See All TV
    • TV Reviews
    • TV Reunions
    • TV Recaps
    • Animated
    • Comedy
    • Crime
    • Drama
    • Family
    • Mystery
    • Reality
    • Sci-fi
    • Thriller
  • Movies

    Movies

    See All Movies
    • Movie Reviews
    • Trailers
    • Film Festivals
    • Movie Reunions
    • Movie Previews
  • Music

    Music

    See All Music
    • Music Reviews
  • Books

    Books

    See All Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Author Interviews
  • Theater

    Theater

    See All Theater
    • Theater Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • Gaming
  • Events

    Events

    See All Events
    • Comic-Con
  • Celebrity
  • Awards

    Awards

    See All Awards
    • Oscars
    • Emmys
    • Golden Globes
    • SAG Awards
    • Grammys
    • Tony Awards
  • Streaming

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletter
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Order Past Issues this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

LIVE
  1. HomeChevron Right
  2. MoviesChevron Right
  3. Ruth E. Carter's Oscar-worthy costumes celebrate 'pimp style' in Dolemite Is My Name

Ruth E. Carter's Oscar-worthy costumes celebrate 'pimp style' in Dolemite Is My Name

By Joey Nolfi
November 08, 2019 at 05:24 PM EST
Skip gallery slides
Save FB Tweet

1 of 7

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Passion play

Dolemite_1
Credit: François Duhamel/Netflix; Courtesy of Ruth E. Carter/Netflix

For Black Panther's Ruth E. Carter — one of the greatest living costume designers (with a new Oscar freshly tucked into her sewing kit) — costume design isn't just about telling a story. For her, boarding longtime friend and collaborator Eddie Murphy's long-gestating passion project Dolemite Is My Name (a biopic about iconic comedian and filmmaker Rudy Ray Moore's rise to prominence with black audiences in the 1970s) meant proudly amplifying an underrepresented moment in black history.

Ahead, the legendary artist tells EW how she worked with Murphy to bring his daring vision to life via fabulous vintage acquisitions and jaw-dropping custom suits, jackets, gowns, and more — all of which deserve to land Carter in the Oscar race for the second consecutive year.

1 of 7

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 7

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Dolemite_4
Credit: François Duhamel/Netflix; Courtesy of Ruth E. Carter/Netflix

After having worked together on numerous projects in the past (Daddy Day Care, I Spy), Carter joined Dolemite virtually because of Murphy's involvement alone.

"I don’t know if I would have done it with anybody else. I think that the shorthand that’s developed over the years allows him to not worry and to just think about how he wants to play the role," she recalls of committing herself to an arduous six-week preparation in anticipation of Murphy's 75 outfit changes (among approximately 150 total costumes for principal actors). "One suit takes a tailor six weeks to make, if you’re doing it properly, and we had six weeks to put the whole film together. We were racing the whole time. We shot it over 10 weeks, so every day we established something new, and I had fittings with people right on set in the dressing room."

2 of 7

3 of 7

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Dolemite_6
Credit: François Duhamel/Netflix; Courtesy of Ruth E. Carter/Netflix

During preparation, Carter knew she wanted to counteract stereotypical presentations of black culture in the 1970s to create the film's authentic, lived-in vibe that "didn't make a mockery" of the era through the film's background characters and environments as a contrast to Moore's eccentric style.

"I hadn’t seen a really good '70s film addressing black culture in a very long time, so it was important to me that I addressed some of the problems from the past. Somehow the '70s got pushed into a laughable corner with big bell bottoms, afros, and Elton John glasses," she observes. "[What I created] is what I remember seeing in my neighborhood, and I wanted to bring that into this movie so that when we see Dolemite and his antics, we could take that over the top and he would stand out, whereas everybody else [on the street] felt more real. It feels like we’re doing it right, like we’re addressing part of black culture and black history in areas that have been ignored."

3 of 7

Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

4 of 7

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Dolemite_5
Credit: François Duhamel/Netflix; Courtesy of Ruth E. Carter/Netflix

Carter began her search for the film's costumes — around 40 percent of which she says were completely constructed, versus 60 percent acquired from vintage shops — in photographs, particularly those from collections documenting production on Moore's 1975 blaxploitation hit Dolemite, the making of which the film chronicles. But, before Dolemite became a hit, Moore cut his teeth as a traveling comic, performing for urban audiences around the country as the titular character — a larger-than-life "urban dandy," as Carter calls it, whose story was largely told through his clothes.

"When he passed away, I don’t know if there was an interest in all of those wonderful outfits he created, so we did the research and went through all of his movies," explains Carter. "I looked at candid photos [from production] and people looked normal in these photographs, but then you saw Rudy Ray Moore, he had a very stagey look. [In the] '70s vibe where the stage performer actually worse a costume. For Rudy, his costume was pimp-style, so he has a rose on his lapel or the lapels are trimmed with glitter, or there’s a combination of textures, colors, accessories, and hats."

4 of 7

Advertisement

5 of 7

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Dolemite_3
Credit: François Duhamel/Netflix; Courtesy of Ruth E. Carter/Netflix

In one scene, the word "pimp" pops up to describe Moore's eye-popping, colorful style, and while Carter acknowledges that Moore's sexualized persona fits the bill, the word has a different cultural connotation in the context of his world.

"When you hear 'pimp,' it’s a strange word that describes this guy with a stable of women and an over-the-top look, and that certainly is part of it, but his styling is more like an urban dandy," the designer says. "[They] get to break the rule and don’t have to follow any standard style from a menswear catalog," including hats, walking sticks, canes, and hats to top it all off.

5 of 7

6 of 7

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Dolemite_2
Credit: François Duhamel/Netflix; Courtesy of Ruth E. Carter/Netflix

Having grown up in the '70s with five brothers who browsed urban catalogs showcasing the dandiest fashions, Carter distinctly remembers the era she recreated for the film, the road to which wasn't an easy stroll down memory lane.

"You need double-knit polyester, Qiana knit — that’s not a fabric you can just go to Jo Ann’s and then there it is in every color! We found a fabric store that had this in stock, but it was the stuff that nobody bought, so we had lime green gingham. What do you do with that?" she remembers with a laugh, adding that she also consulted looks by music acts like B.T. Express and Earth, Wind & Fire for inspiration. "I had to overdye the polyester so the texture would be there. When you see him in that pink hat with the cranberry suit, that’s a double knit fabric we overdyed. When you see the green coat Eddie puts on when he first creates this character, that’s a fabric we overdyed. We had to massage and work with the fabric until we had the right tone."

6 of 7

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

7 of 7

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Dolemite Is My Name
Credit: Francois Duhamel/Netflix

When it came to the film's most prominent female character, Moore's right-hand woman and performative collaborator, Lady Reed, Carter wanted to embrace actress Da'Vine Joy Randolph's curves the same way the real Reed did.

"Lady Reed was 100 percent made by us. When you see her, you see someone who has it all. She wears a men’s homburg hat in a female style," Carter remembers. "That inspired me to make sure Da’Vine wasn’t just wearing caftans because she’s a big woman; Lady Reed was a big woman, and she had everything. You could tell it was all custom made. Nothing looked sloppy, and everything fit."

7 of 7

Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

  • By Joey Nolfi@joeynolfi

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Trending Videos
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 7 Passion play
    2 of 7
    3 of 7
    4 of 7
    5 of 7
    6 of 7
    7 of 7

    Share options

    Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
    EW.com Entertainment Weekly

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
    • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
    • Sitemap

    Connect

    Follow Us
    Subscribe to Our Newsletter
    Other Meredith Sites

    Other Meredith Sites

    • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
    • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
    • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
    • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
    • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
    • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
    • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
    • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
    • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
    • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
    • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
    • Health this link opens in a new tab
    • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
    • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
    • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
    • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
    • More this link opens in a new tab
    • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
    • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
    • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
    • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
    • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
    • Parents this link opens in a new tab
    • People this link opens in a new tab
    • People en EspaƱol this link opens in a new tab
    • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
    • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
    • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
    • Shape this link opens in a new tab
    • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
    • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
    • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
    • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
    Meredith© Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://ew.com

    View image

    Ruth E. Carter's Oscar-worthy costumes celebrate 'pimp style' in Dolemite Is My Name
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.