Adorning 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'

Oscar-winning costume and jewelry designer Ruth E. Carter says her team took inspiration from Mayan culture.

In "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever", jewelry plays a crucial role, and it's not just those all-powerful Kimoyo beads.

Jewelry Ties the sequel, released earlier this month, to the first "Black Panther" movie. "We see King T'Challa's ring that Shuri wears around his neck," Ruth E. Carter, the film's costume and jewelry designer, said in a video interview, referring to T'Challa's sister. played by Letitia Wright. “She wears it during the funeral procession. It's a symbolic passing of the torch."

(Marvel decided not to recast T'Challa after Chadwick Boseman, who played him in the first film , died of colon cancer in 2020.)

ImageAfrican patterns have been used for jewelry worn by Queen Ramonda of Wakanda, played by Angela Bassett, center.Credit...Eli Adé/Marvel Studios

And adorn the sequel cast gave Ms. Carter and her team the opportunity to expand on the African motifs they had extracted for Wakanda, the fictional country shown cinematically in the 2018 film "Black Panther" - and draw inspiration from Mayan culture for stylize the Talocan tribe. They are an underwater civilization that attacks Wakanda, the main storyline of the second film.

"Wakandans connect with African tribes traditions, and the Talocans connect to Mesoamerica and the ocean,” Ms. Carter said. "With the Mayan influence, we connected the aerial world with what they would have used from the ocean." She said Talocan designs included materials like bone, jade, rope, and kelp.

ImageNamor's necklace has a two-headed snake with a large pearl in its mouth and a double row of pearls.Credit...Eli Adé/Marvel Studios

Perhaps the most important Namor, the leader of the Talocans, played by Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta Mejía.

"Namor is adorned with a large necklace that has a two-headed serpent with a large bead in its mouth and a double row of beads," Ms. Carter said. "It makes a lot of sense. A serpent was often used in Mesoamerican masonry and pottery."

Other new ornate characters include the warrior Talocan Attuma, who wears a hammerhead shark helmet, while Namor's cousin , Namora, has a necklace shaped like lionfish fins.

Ms. Carter, the first black designer to win the Best Costume Design Oscar for her work on "Black Panther," also focused on jewelry variation among recurring characters.

“ Queen Ramonda wears two different corsets, a...