Every day the opening weekend box office projections for Black Panther keep going up. The movie has already broken all kinds of records for advance ticket sales. And some experts even think the current projection might even be on the low side. Variety reported yesterday that industry experts don’t think Black Panther has even peaked yet and that the tracking looks like there’s still even more momentum out there, more gains, so that peak day for the movie (which apparently is typically 10 days before a movie opens) will be on actual opening day. Which, I imagine, is the marketing sweetspot. And that’s exactly what they’ve done SO well here with Black Panther: the marketing has been first class. So many creative ideas in play across the media landscape.
This week, most of the cast of Black Panther has been in New York. It’s also New York Fashion Week. So Black Panther turned NY Fashion Week into Wakanda Fashion Week, a charity fashion show last night to raise money for Save The Children featuring clothing and makeup and hairstyling all inspired by the movie. Lupita Nyong’s makeup artist was there and he talked to Vanity Fair about how every detail, from the dots around the eyes to the eyebrows, has a connection to the entire Wakanda aesthetic.
As we’ve seen during the press tour, the stars of the movie have also been styled, from head to toe to face to hair, to represent the look of Wakanda. Because the look of Wakanda is essential to an understanding of Wakanda. Because clothes can express an idea, an ideal, a place, a story.
What?
CLOTHES!?
Can be important?
On a red carpet!?!
Yeah. It turns out some people WANT to be on a red carpet. Because it wasn’t always the case that they were visible on a red carpet. And now that they’re slowly becoming visible, they’re using their visibility to highlight the work of other people, other artists, or they’re simply there to prove that they belong, that they too deserve to wear the designs of the top houses in Paris, Milan, London, and New York. Something to remember for next time someone tries to roll her eyes because she’s so over the fashion question. Not everyone is.
