The highly anticipated film *Black Panther: Wakanda Forever*, which hits theaters this weekend, features custom-made costumes and sneakers for the characters Shuri, Okoye, and Riri, designed in collaboration between adidas and Marvel Studios.
The adidas innovation and design teams—led largely by female and BIPOC designers, including former participants in the brand’s S.E.E.D. program—have developed a groundbreaking new approach to costume design under the direction of Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter, have developed a groundbreaking new approach to costume design.
The result is seven unique costumes, comprising both clothing and shoes for the characters Shuri, Okoye, and Riri. For these designs, adidas utilized its most advanced technologies to create these unique and groundbreaking looks.
Each garment was inspired by its respective character, whose personality defines the aesthetic of the innovation. The shoes were also designed to reflect the futuristic setting of Wakanda and to support the film’s functional aspects and individual storylines.
Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter on the collaboration: “adidas has been a part of hip-hop and Black culture and fashion since the 1980s. Working with the adidas design team to bring our vision for the ‘Wakanda Forever’ costumes to life was an exciting and wonderful collaboration.
I was invited to explore some of adidas’s most futuristic technologies and had the opportunity to decide which innovations we would incorporate into the costumes to best reflect the world of Wakanda.
The Marvel team and I had a clear vision of what we wanted to achieve before we began working on the costumes for the film. Together with adidas, we were able to develop our ideas in imaginative ways until we finally had the inspiring, breathtaking outfits you can see in the film."
Emily Jagos, Innovation Design Director at adidas, added: “We want our work on these costumes and shoes to be remembered because they represent an original combination of functional innovation and tell the story of every scene in which they appear. What makes these pieces unique is their connection to sports and performance; the women who wear them in the film play such strong characters, and the link between their outfits and the brand’s innovations is truly something special.”
The collection was created by a team of industry-leading designers, including students from the adidas School for Experiential Education Design (S.E.E.D.)—a strategic initiative launched in collaboration with the Pensole Design Academy to introduce new talent to the design industry.
At Pensole’s “Brooklyn Creator Farm,” the first class—Generation 2020—participated in the creative brainstorming process for the custom adidas shoes featured in the film.
Eliya Jackson, a former S.E.E.D. student and current adidas designer, said: “Working on this one-of-a-kind project for Marvel and adidas was a very special experience. It was incredibly inspiring and exciting to be part of a project that approaches product design from a cinematic perspective and to realize that the product is interpreted on screen in a bigger and more magical way. As a product and footwear designer, this project pushed me to think creatively about products without limitations and to envision big things. I know that these designs will have a major impact on my culture and the millions of people of color around the world who will see the film, and that’s what matters most to me.
The custom-made costumes for the characters were curated to create unique looks and consist of four “Lab Looks” and two “Flight Suit” costumes for Shuri, as well as a “Knit Look” and a “Tech Fit” look for Okoye.
The costumes will be featured in Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” which hits theaters worldwide on November 11.
Photos via adidas
