‘You know when you’ve hit it’: Ruth E Carter on building Sinners' world

Ruth E Carter’s costumes helped define the two identical twins in Sinners, both played by Michael B Jordan. A red fedora for Stack and a blue newsboy cap for Smoke became decisive: Carter found the red hat on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, and when Ryan Coogler saw Jordan try it on he said, “that’s it.” Carter recalls, “You know when you’ve hit it – it’s a transformation.” That attention to detail has made Carter the most-garlanded Black woman in Oscars history and earned her a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—her family attended its Covid-era unveiling while Oprah and Eddie Murphy dialled in via Zoom.

Her work on Coogler’s Jim Crow-era drama brought a fifth Oscar nomination and, per a Variety poll, she is a favourite in the category. She is also set to produce a biopic of designer Ann Lowe alongside Serena Williams. Carter aimed to avoid clichés in dressing hoodoo priestess Annie, played by Wunmi Mosaku: no turban-and-shawl shorthand.

United States, Los Angeles

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