Brief Synopsis: To outsiders, Wakanda is a Third-World nation in the middle of major political upheaval following the King T’Chaka’s death. Except Wakanda has a centuries old secret: vibranium, a metal harvested from a fallen meteorite that can absorb and release kinetic energy. Because of this discovery, Wakanda is actually the most technologically advanced society on Earth, though they choose not to reveal their secret to protect their way of life. But the times they are a changing — T’Challa returns to Wakanda to inherit his father’s throne and assume the right to be the Black Panther. Meanwhile, his advisors — Nakia, an international agent and T’Challa’s ex-girlfriend; Okoye, the fiercely loyal Dora Milaje general; Shuri, Wakanda’s leading inventor and T’Challa’s younger sister; and W’Kabi, the head of security as the Border Tribe leader — all have varying opinions on whether it’s time for Wakanda to share vibranium with the world. These issues are brought to light when T’Challa clashes with a man named Erik “Killmonger” Stevens, who strangely wears the ring of Wakanda royalty. As T’Challa’s uncovers truths about his father’s past, he has to decide whether his forefathers were right to shield Wakanda from the world…or if it’s time for the Black Panther to rise up for all to see.
I love it when a film’s costume design is both visually stunning and tells the narrative in itself. One reason that Black Panther stands out above superhero films is that the costuming is sleek and bold, but it’s not just there to look cool. The clothing is an expression of the characters themselves. A popular idiom we have today is, “The clothes make the [wo]man,” but I personally like Polonius’ line in Hamlet better, “For the apparel oft proclaims the man.” Especially when it comes to films, because costume designs are all about announcing to the audience (in subtle and unsubtle ways) who these characters are — their beliefs, their values, their customs, their interests… And Black Panther is simply brilliant. Geometric patterns and prints emphasize Wakanda’s deep, rich history. We can see the craftsmanship in the clothing — crosshatching patterns, embroidery lines, molded pieces of metal, baubles, lace, and fur — every piece of clothing and adornment is presenting the shared history within each of the 5 Wakandan tribes. More than any other element in the film, the clothing emphasizes how important tradition is in Wakanda as well as passing along those traditions to the next generation. (A theme that is kind of really super important when Killmonger shows up and stakes claim to the throne.)
One of my absolute favorite parts about Black Panther is we can trace T’Challa’s character development and his internal struggle simply through his costume designs. In the film, he undergoes 12 wardrobe changes — 6 in the first hour and 6 in the last hour — and on a basic level, as T’Challa is filled with more doubts, the further removed his clothing becomes from hs Wakandan roots. I thought the best way to show this would be to demonstrate each of the first six costume changes, and briefly demonstrate how those choices go a long way in bringing out the film’s emotional resonance.
1 — Black panther suit
For the first 20 minutes of the film, we only see T’Challla in his powerful Black Panther suit. Everything about it screams confidence and regality. An inverted chevron pattern, often used in military uniforms, is repeated running down the suit. Vibranium spikes, like a panther’s teeth or claws, adorn his collar. It’s a mesh, handwoven fabric that fits in with the Wakanda fashion, despite it being this pure, shadow black pigment, when everyone else wears bright colors of white, red, and gold. In the scene pictured, the Black Panther suit creates an amazing color contrasts with the vibrant red of the Dora Milaje. (According to costume designer Ruth E. Carter, the red was fashioned after the Turkana tribe of Kenya.) These impressive color combinations will continue throughout. The Border Tribe, for example, are most easily recognizable by their blue robes that double as vibranium shields, which becomes vital for our eyes during a certain battle scene when we have bodies flying everywhere, and all we can catch are glimpses of red and blue clothing.
Just as a quick bonus because she’s pictured here, I want to highlight Danai Gurira/Okoye’s warrior costume, which has a lot of subtle details to distinguish her as the general of the all-female tribe — extra vibranium stitched into the leather of the inverted chevron on her chest; the chevron shape reappears as a tattoo on her bald head almost like a crown whereas other Dora Milaje don’t have any markings on their heads; she wears gold-plated shoulder armor instead of silver like most of the other Dora Milaje; her spear is the only one (I would have to do a super attentive viewing to fact check myself for this) that has golden handgrips; even her neck brace and wristbands are gold.
2 — ritual combat
On a practical level, it gives the audience eye candy to marvel (haha, that pun will never grow old) at T’Challa and M’Baku wearing nothing but the equivalent of wet boxing shorts. But actually, it’s really important that T’Challa wears as little clothing as possible (without becoming too distracting) in this scene because it emphasizes the idea that if he’s nothing without the suit, then he shouldn’t have it (yes, I know, I borrowed Tony Stark’s line from Spider-Man: Homecoming. It just fit too well here.) Defeating M’Baku during this moment cements in our minds that T’Challa deserves to be Wakanda’s king because he was able to display strength, honor, and bravery without the need for the superpowers granted to him by the Black Panther suit.
Also, just take a few seconds to study this image. The choreography, or staging of this frame, certainly helps to group the tribes together, but with how many people are onscreen, it’s impressive how the film is able to let the audience know exactly the tribe to which every person belongs — and that’s all thanks to a diverse costume design.
3 — Spirit realm
“Have I ever failed you as a father?” T’Chaka’s most memorable line in this scene…and also the one that hits the hardest when taken in context of the entire film. But what I really want to point out is that T’Chaka is wearing something vastly different than the previous two wardrobe changes. Here, it’s a single, pearl-white garment with minimal design work. For the first time we see someone from Wakanda who isn’t wearing illusions of layers — designs, patterns, prints, shapes, textures — to lend the appearance of wearing more than the person actually is. And even what little embroidery work is upon his white robe is a break from what we’re accustomed to seeing with Wakanda’s preference for sharp angles, like parallel and perpendicular lines. Instead, the robe is rounded — squiggly lines trace the collar around his neck, while those elliptical movements are continued down the center line of his garment. Contrast that to his father, T’Chaka, who wears a waist cloth and a robe draped over one shoulder. His outfit feels more Wakandan than his son’s, because the layering of both textile and patterns highlights their culture’s traditions and generations of customs. The lack of familiar Wakanda markings in his costume reflect a man who’s caught between worlds (physically and literally in this specific moment) as he doesn’t know what kind of king he wants to be — or even if he’s ready to inherit the throne.
4 — wakanda marketplace
This costume just screams Wakandan Royalty. Single garment, no protective mesh, black for obvious reasons, the medium-length collar that we’ve already seen from the superhero suit and the white garment in the spirit realm. Again, we get this wonderful contrast with T’Challa flanked by two Dora Milaje bodyguards in their battle-ready uniforms. But notice who stands out the most here: Nakia. If you remember the dialogue from this scene, this is when Nakia’s trying to convince T’Challa that a national isolationist stance is unethical. Nakia’s fashion simplicity emphasizes a moment in which she’s super straightforward about her political views. Whereas Nakia’s one-shoulder dress — a beautiful bright green, forest design — fits in better with the background characters in the marketplace because she’s more down to earth, T’Challa sticks out not because he’s royalty, but because his apparel proclaims the man.
5 — Busan, South Korea
Notice what T’Challa wears now. A plain green suit. Gone are the decorative patterns or the handwoven texture — it actually looks scratchy and uncomfortable. But more importantly, what color is his suit? Green. Where did we just see green? Exactly. The conversation with Nakia in the marketplace. By this point, we already know that T’Challa is having second thoughts about whether his family’s isolationist standpoint is the right decision, and the dark green suit is a great example of color symbolism. It’s not the bold green of progress like Nakia; the suit is still dark like the Black Panther outfit so he can blend into the shadows like a certain highly-advanced Wakandan society. And that’s exactly what he does. When the battle is starting to slip away and the entire operation has gone up in smoke, T’Challa runs into a busy Korean city street, morphing his green suit into his Black Panther outfit. But if we compare the way the suit is used to the 1st appearance, there’s a lot more uncontrolled emotion. He just became the King of Wakanda, his advisors aren’t in agreement with each other (Nakia wants to help refugees, W’Kabi wants to wage war, and Okoye wants to keep everything the way it is), and now he’s learned this South African warlord (Andy Serkis/Ulysses Klaue) has somehow gotten control over vibranium weapons. As he races down the street, purple streaks race down his suit like furiously pumping veins; his actions are more violent, and he even goes so far as to pull out the panther claws on Ulysses Klaue before Okoye and Nakia remind him that there’s a crowd of bystanders filming the whole incident.
6 and 7 — the truth unfolds, Zuri in the herbal garden
It’s the same symbolism from the spirit realm: a one-piece garment with little markings of royalty or distinguishment. But this time it’s different. The blackness of the Black Panther suit is a source of pride and honor for T’Challa. In the marketplace with Nakia, his royal outfit still contains familiar Wakandan decoration. Except, this is not the blackness we’ve come to know up until now — this charcoal black piece of clothing proclaims…nothing. It’s a funeral garb more than a kingly vestment. It’s a symbol of shame. Everything T’Challa believed about his father and his country has been uprooted by the discovery that his uncle N’Jobu helped Klaue steal vibranium, leading to his father killing his own brother, and his father abandoning his nephew (who grew up to become Killmonger) in Oakland — all to protect the secret of Wakanda’s existence. In the words of T’Challa when he returns to the spirit realm, “All of you were wrong! To turn your backs on the rest of the world! We let the fear of discovery stop us from doing what is right.”