'Coming To America' Sequel Recruits Oscar-Winning 'Black Panther' Costume Designer Ruth E. Carter

Coming to America is making a fashionable comeback. The endlessly quotable, deeply hilarious 1988 comedy classic starring Eddie Murphy was the essential clash of cultures story, following a crown prince of a fictional wealthy African nation who decides to find romance in America. So it's appropriate that for the Coming 2 America costumes, the sequel is looking to the costume designer of yet another fictional wealthy African nation.Ruth E. Carter has been tapped to design the costumes for the Coming to America sequel, bringing with her the promise of lavish, Afrofuturistic designs and an Oscar award for designing just those kinds of costumes for Black Panther.

Ruth E. Carter announced on Instagram that she has been hired by Paramount Pictures to design the costumes for Coming 2 America, the long-awaited sequel to the 1988 comedy classic that has been decades in the works. The sequel will reunite stars Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall, who teased their reunion in the preliminary fitting shots shared by Carter.

"It's official! Preliminary fitting for Coming to America 2 with Prince Akeem, Semmi and Oscar," Carter wrote on her Instagram post.

There couldn't be a better choice to design the costumes of Coming 2 America. Before Black Panther became a watershed moment for African-Americans, Coming to America was that early cultural touchstone, presenting a vision of Black America that was lavish, gaudy, and best of all, funny. Murphy and Hall's luxuriously-outfitted characters became sartorial icons, and a symbol of black excellence.

Cut to 30 years later, and Black Panther is doing the same, but on a much grander scale. Carter won an Academy Award for her Afrofuturistic-inspired costume designs, based on the cultural philosophy/aesthetic that imagines African culture at the cutting edge of technology. The fictional country of Wakanda, untouched by colonization and thriving for it, was the epitome of this term.

Though Coming to America is a comedy, there are more than a few similarities it shares with Black Panther and its vision of a African countries untouched by imperialism. Carter has shown that she has a unique, vibrant grasp on this vision. And it will be amazing to see her update that vision for Coming 2 America.