The fictional, futuristic African Country of Wakanda, blends traditional African culture with space age design, resulting in a epic tribal-inspired costuming and warrior-like hair and makeup.
Black Panther’s head hairstylist Camille Friend, a third -generation hairstylist from Tempe, Arizona mentions that 'natural hair texture was so important to the storyline'. This was Camille's fifth Marvel film and she is currently working on her 'sixth' now. In charge of designing all the characters and making sure everything is done on time - hairpieces, wigs and so on.
Camille has stated that the “Difference between working on Black Panther and other Marvel films like Captain America: Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. would be that ‘in the past, the Marvel universe had already been established, but we got to establish a new universe in Black Panther that was on the continent of Africa. It’s a modern Africa that had never been seen before.
‘I had a lot of free reign! I approached the design process for this film in three parts. First, the current state of African American hair, the Afropunk movement of young people wearing their hair natural, which I love, because it’s a very young movement so it’s colorful, it’s bright, it’s funky and lastly, I had to consider the future.
‘I want people to take away from the hairstyles in this film that black hair is beautiful. I'm especially excited for the film's celebration of black hair on the big screen. We were able to embrace the natural hair movements and turn the hair into a character. Hair is part of the movie in a way that hasn’t been done before. I think people are look ing for hope right now. People want to be happy and that’s what Black Panther is doing for people.'
‘Black People Are Beautiful’
US Weekly / February 21, 2018
People.com / February 20, 2018
