The Fashion of Wakanda needs to be fixed!

[NeFaRoSaRRe]

Hear me out guys...

I'm originally from West Africa and English is not my first language, therefore I ask you to please forgive any English mistake I will made.

Ok, now I pretty much love everything about Black Panther in civil war, but the clothes wear by BP, his father and the other Wakandans really let me like this...

Look at this...

What was that? Who at marvel believed an African kingdom who was never been colonized, has an isolationist policy and on top of that is the most advance country on earth will have his first ambassador (the King) represented his kingdom outside of his frontiers draped in occidental attires?

How that could have come about? This make historically, culturally and politically no sense. Seriously, it would be like seen the Saudi king and his entourage in tuxedo instead of like this...

And Saudi Arabia is not know to be an old independent kingdom.

Fashion is linked to culture. Sometime a given population in one country can be culturally influence by another country culture forcefully (war, conquest, colonialism, etc) or not (medias, music, cinema, etc). As an example of that, America pretty much influence the world over, therefore American fashion influence the world also. Still, in a world where an African kingdom name Wakanda exist with an history of fierce independency, ultra high technology and wealth, them been culturally influenced by another culture is highly unlikely.

Like most Americans in the real world believed they're the best in the word in many things, Wankandans also in the Marvel universe believed (with good enough reason) that they're the best in the world, ergo they will never be a reason for them to be influenced by any other culture they judge not on par with their, and that certainly include fashion.

If Wakanda is really suppose to be this independent highly advance African kingdom, his King certainly has no business palling around in Armani tuxedo and Audi luxurious cars like a random second zone corrupt African dictator.

They should have their own Wakanda licensed cars and traditional Wakandan clothes. Yes, Wakandan in the MCU need to have their own, independent culturally bound, fashion sense! I notice that at the end of the movie they seem to start to go in there with T'challa...

(To continue below..)

 

[NeFaRoSaRRe]

... Now, this is some example of African clothes design I think could fit well in Wakanda...

For the Men of Wakanda...

Women of wakanda next...

 

[NeFaRoSaRRe]

Women of Wakanda...

To continue...

 

[NeFaRoSaRRe]

...

What you think?

Also post your own fashion design suggestions for wankanda!t:

 

[Chesterfield]

So youre saying Wakanda should have their people wearing Ankara, Agbada and Guine? Understandable and makes sense and I'm sure we'll see a lot of African cultural attire as this movie will be heavily emphasising African culture and historical traditions and roots.

As a West African myself (Nigerian) I was also a bit disappointed that T'Chaka and T'Challa turned up in Vienna wearing straight up suits. They should have at least worn the suits with cultural accessories i.e:

Wearing a traditional suit isn't a problem and Wakandans would wear them. They're not ignorant to the world afterall and they speak English. However, dressing up conventional formal attire with cultural accessories is what could have added more authenticity to T'Chaka and T'Challa and I suspect Coogler will depict this in his film.

 

[The Wakandan]

Fair points made NeFaRoSaRRe, concerning their attire.

In defense of the MCU, I think the Russo Brothers simply didn't want to intrude too much on the direction Ryan Coogler and his team would go, as far as attire is concerned. Thus, they played it safe and simply had them in suits and so on. The solo film can also give a brief explanation for why they dressed how they did in Civil War, if needed.

That said, I'm confident the MCU will make a shift in attire for the movie. Wakandans do have their own style of clothing in the BP comics--both traditional and modern--and they dress that way when they are in Wakanda and even abroad in several cases. The MCU can use the comics as inspiration and go from there.

 

[TyBig]

Have you ever seen pictures with World leaders meeting?

They wear suits...

If that's how it is in the BP movie then there might be a problem

 

[Zant]

Yeah hopefully Marvel does more research with the look. I saw Civil War in Lagos and everyone in the cinema laughed every time someone (Including the King of Wakanda of all people) called Lagos ''LAH-GOS''. They should have just made it a fictional city.

 

[Chesterfield]

The funny thing is, in the real world most people even US news stations pronounce it correctly as Lagos but that whole Lah-gos pronunciation was comical.

 

[Chesterfield]

Have you ever seen pictures with World leaders meeting?

They wear suits...

If that's how it is in the BP movie then there might be a problem

Have YOU seen a world leader's meeting?

The majority of delegates wear suits but some also wear cultural attire or mix the two together as illustrated in my previous post. In any case, I'm convinced Coogler will make this film as authentic as possible and they've emphasised the cultural depths the film will explore so one can expect to see a lot of traditional African clothing/costuming.

 

[eon001]

As a fellow West African I salute this thread. You made some excellent points, especially about Wakanda not being colonized.
I will expect the Coogler will be researching African fashion to give Wakanda a unique look.
I'll give the Russo's a pass as Captain America was there primary focus, but going forward, I hope Coogler has multiple consultants from Africa to maintain some level of accuracy.

 

[Zant]

Where exactly is Wakanda on the map of Africa? The location of it may determine the accent and fashion to be used. They will probably just go for a mix of everything.

 

[NeFaRoSaRRe]

Have you ever seen pictures with World leaders meeting?

They wear suits...

If that's how it is in the BP movie then there might be a problem

You understand WHY they wear suits? Now, how that "why" apply to a Wakandan king?

Now, bellow are some modern African kings...

... You think they will wear suit Too if they met some world leaders?

 

[Chesterfield]

To be fair, the above kings look like village or town kings where their power is limited to that of a local mayor as opposed to being influential enough to be having meetings on the world' stage.

Although not a King but Nigerian President Buhari in Germany to present Nigeria’s ‘wish list’ to world leaders last year:

 

[Dboi]

With Ruth E. Carter being the costume designer for the film and from her previous work i.e Sparkle, Black Dynamite, I know the Wakandans will have a unique style of clothing in the solo movie so I wouldn't worry now until I see images or trailers by the middle of next year

 

[eon001]

Where exactly is Wakanda on the map of Africa? The location of it may determine the accent and fashion to be used. They will probably just go for a mix of everything.

I wouldn't put too much weight into the region relevance. Wakanda is in the real continent of Africa, but it's still a fantasy country. I think there using the zulu South African dialect as a base, but I wouldn't be surprised if there mix in some Nigerian, Ghanaian, Somalian etc. Every country has different accents within the country. Texans don't sound like New Yorkers. People in Cape Town don't sound like people form Durban. Even in Nigeria, where I was born, you have area boys that speak in broken English, but you have well spoken rich people that are as articulate as an English professor from Oxford. I have cousins that have perfect American accents because they went to American school IN Nigeria.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Wakanda is the most advanced nation on Earth in the MCU; maybe in MCU continuity they invented the modern 2- and 3-piece suit, and white people copied it from them.

 

[Chesterfield]

Don't see that at all. You can't copy from a highly secretive and isolationist country that the outside world knows nothing about. On the other hand some Wakandans travelled freely to monitor and observe wtf the rest of the world was/is upto.

 

[Dboi]

By the way, here is another assistant costume designer who is working in the Black Panther movie and from her portfolio, I wouldn't worry too much

http://www.dericacolewashington.com/styling/

http://www.dericacolewashington.com/work/

 

[ehh]

Are people REALLY complaining about these characters wearing suits? They were attending a UN meeting in Vienna. They were just respectfully wearing the accepted attire.

This is what we call nitpicking.

 

[NeFaRoSaRRe]

Are people REALLY complaining about these characters wearing suits? They were attending a UN meeting in Vienna. They were just respectfully wearing the accepted attire.

This is what we call nitpicking.

Nitpicking? You expected the king of Saudi Arabia to wear suit too a the UN?

Dboi__ Niiiiiiiiice!

 

[Pink Ranger]

The traditional attire of the Wakandan people will suspiciously resemble jorts with Tampa Bay Lightning jerseys.

 

[Silvermoth]

You know the clothes Beyoncé was wearing in the film clip "Formation"? That's what I pictured for the fashion of wakanda.

Love the idea of this thread by the way

 

[ehh]

Nitpicking? You expected the king of Saudi Arabia to wear suit too a the UN?!

This isn't Saudi Arabia. This is a fictional country within a fictional story within the Marvel Universe. It's nitpicking.

And you can find plenty of pictures of African leaders at UN speeches wearing suits.

Spoiler

Real UN Speech

Speech from Civil War by T'Chaka.

 

[Chesterfield]

True, there are many African leaders who wear suits at the UN but like I had mentioned before that's not always the case.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari giving a speech at the UN a few months ago:

Here's he is again

President of Gambia

Hassan Gouled Aptidon of Djibouti