Powered by adidas and offered through the HBCU’s online learning platform, ePLC, the masterclass shares the two-time Academy Award winner’s creative blueprint with the next generation
For more than three decades, Ruth E. Carter has used costume design to shape how audiences see Black history, culture, and identity on screen. From Malcolm X and Black Panther to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Sinners, her work has demonstrated that what a character wears can reveal just as much about a story as the words spoken on screen.
Now, Carter is making some of the knowledge behind that historic career accessible to the next generation of creatives.
Following the strong response to its inaugural program, Pensole Lewis College of Business & Design (PLC Detroit) is relaunching the Ruth E. Carter Masterclass on Aug. 17. Powered by Adidas and offered through PLC Detroit’s online learning platform, ePLC, the free, online, and self-paced costume design course gives aspiring designers, storytellers, and other creatives an opportunity to gain insight into Carter’s creative methodologies regardless of where they live.
The relaunch represents more than another educational program. It is an extension of Carter’s creative legacy and her commitment to passing forward the research, cultural understanding, and storytelling principles that have helped define her career.
A Hampton University graduate, Carter became the first Black person to win the Academy Award for costume design with her work on Black Panther. She won again for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, becoming the first Black woman to win two Academy Awards. Her nomination for Sinners marked her fifth Oscar nomination, making her the most nominated Black woman in Academy Awards history. The Academy’s database confirms Carter’s five costume design nominations and two wins.
Those achievements have made Carter an important part of Hollywood history, but the masterclass reflects another dimension of what legacy can look like when someone who has reached the highest level of a profession intentionally creates opportunities for others to learn from that journey.
Taking Students Inside the Creative Process
The masterclass features four video modules centered on Carter’s creative process. Participants explore character development, research techniques, visual storytelling, and strategic problem-solving while gaining insight into her approach to Afrofuturism.
The lessons are designed to go beyond the finished costume and examine the thinking that happens before a character ever appears on screen. For aspiring creatives, understanding how an accomplished designer approaches research, makes creative decisions, and translates an idea into a visual narrative can provide a perspective that is difficult to gain from traditional instruction alone.
For Carter, that process begins with understanding the story and respecting the culture behind it.
“Afrofuturism has always been about expanding our imagination — about seeing ourselves in worlds that honor our past while designing the future,” Carter said. “Costume design is storytelling. It requires research, cultural respect, and the courage to continually evolve your craft.”
That philosophy has been visible throughout Carter’s career. Her designs have helped audiences travel across periods of Black history while also imagining Black futures, demonstrating how costume can function as a powerful form of cultural storytelling.
Why Access Matters
The fact that the masterclass is free and available online is an important part of the story.
Creative talent is not limited to Los Angeles, New York, or other traditional industry centers, yet access to established professionals, specialized training, and industry knowledge can still depend heavily on geography, finances, and professional networks.
Through ePLC, PLC Detroit can extend the reach of the masterclass beyond its Detroit campus, allowing an emerging creative in Atlanta, Los Angeles, or a community far removed from the entertainment industry to access the same course.
Carter believes institutions and industry partners have an important role to play in creating those opportunities.
“Support from institutions like PLC Detroit and partners like adidas is critical because it invests in the growth and development of artists,” Carter said. “When brands champion creative education, they help open doors for the next generation of designers to discover their voice, shape their vision, and step fully into their purpose.”
Building a Pipeline Between Education and Industry
The collaboration is particularly fitting for PLC Detroit, Michigan’s only HBCU and the nation’s only design-focused HBCU. The college has built its educational model around connecting creative education with industry experience and providing emerging designers with pathways into professional careers.
PLC Detroit is led by renowned footwear designer Dr. D’Wayne Edwards, whose more than three-decade career included roles at L.A. Gear, Nike, and Jordan Brand. Edwards later founded PENSOLE, the first U.S. academy dedicated to footwear design, before becoming president of PLC Detroit, where his work continues to center on preparing the next generation of designers. PLC Detroit’s official biography confirms Edwards’ 32-plus-year career with L.A. Gear, Nike, and Jordan and his founding of PENSOLE in 2010.
Carter, who serves as PLC Detroit’s first artist-in-residence, has developed a growing relationship with the college. In addition to the masterclass, that relationship includes the Ruth E. Carter Apparel Creation STU/DEO by adidas, a dedicated creative space designed to support emerging designers.
For both Carter and Edwards, the connection between education and industry reflects a larger philosophy: Students need knowledge, but they also benefit from understanding how professionals think, create, problem-solve, and navigate their industries.
A Masterclass Worth Bringing Back
The relaunch follows the inaugural eight-week masterclass, which introduced aspiring costume designers, storytellers, and other creatives from around the world to Carter’s approach to costume design, visual storytelling, and Afrofuturism.
Participant response helped lead PLC Detroit to bring the program back, giving another group of creatives access to Carter’s methodologies.
One participant described the inaugural program as “a great intro to the beginning stages of costume design” and said the feedback received through the experience was something they would carry forward while developing additional characters.
That response speaks to the larger value of the program. The goal is not simply to hear Carter talk about an extraordinary career. It is to take elements of the thinking behind that career and make them useful to someone who is still building their own.
From Making History to Helping Shape What Comes Next
Carter has already changed what is possible for Black costume designers.
Her Academy Awards broke barriers. Her work has elevated Black history and culture through some of cinema’s most memorable visual storytelling, while her career has helped expand the visibility of costume designers whose perspectives historically have not received the same recognition.
The masterclass gives that legacy another dimension.
An aspiring designer may never have the opportunity to stand beside Carter on a film set, but technology can provide another form of access. Through ePLC, some of the knowledge, creative discipline, and perspective she has accumulated throughout her career can reach someone who may be at the very beginning of theirs.
That is the power of passing knowledge forward. Success can change one career, but access to what was learned along the way can help influence many more.
The free Ruth E. Carter Masterclass, powered by adidas, relaunches Aug. 17 on PLC Detroit’s online learning platform, ePLC. Creatives interested in participating can learn more and register through PLC Detroit.
