I’M KAREN HOLMES WARD. WE ARE HEADING TO THE HAMPTONS WITH THE VIEWS. SUNNY HOSTIN, SHE’S OUT WITH HER LATEST BEACH READ. IT’S CALLED SUMMER ON SAG HARBOR. AND SHE SHARES WHY SHE CHOSE TO HIGHLIGHT THAT BAYSIDE COMMUNITY IN HER NEW BOOK. BUT WE START IN HOLLYWOOD WITH THE TALENTED COSTUME DESIGNER WITH MASSACHUSETTS ROOTS, RUTH E CARTER AND THE OSCAR GOES TO BLACK PANTHER. WAKANDA FOREVER. RUTH CARTER. SHE HAS WORKED ON SOME OF THE MOST MEMORABLE AND PROLIFIC FILMS, CREATING ICONIC COSTUMES THAT REPRESENT HISTORY AND CULTURE FROM SMALL PRODUCTIONS TO BLOCKBUSTERS. SHE IS THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO WIN AN ACADEMY AWARD TWICE IN THE CATEGORY OF COSTUME DESIGN. RUTH E CARTER IS OUT WITH A NEW BOOK. IT’S CALLED THE ART OF RUTH CARTER COSTUMING BLACK HISTORY AND THE AFRO FUTURE FROM DO THE RIGHT THING TO BLACK PANTHER. RUTH, THANK YOU FOR JOINING US. HOW ARE YOU DOING TODAY? HEY, I’M GOOD. HOW ARE YOU? GOOD TO SEE YOU. YOU KNOW, THIS BOOK IS BEAUTIFUL. IT’S FULL OF PHOTOS. NEVER BEFORE SEEN SKETCHES AND MOOD BOARDS. NOW, FOR THREE DECADES, YOU’VE CREATED SOME OF THE MOST RECOGNIZABLE AND ICONIC COSTUMES IN HOLLYWOOD. TELL US HOW YOU GOT YOUR START. OH, I STARTED WITH SPIKE LEE, BUT EVEN BEFORE FILM CAME INTO MY LIFE, I WAS DOING COSTUMES FOR THEATER. I WAS DOWN AT STAGE WEST IN SPRINGFIELD, MASS. IT’S CALLED CITY STAGE NOW. AND THEN I WENT TO THE SANTA FE OPERA AND I DID OPERA COSTUMES AS AN INTERN. AND THEN I JUMPED IN MY VOLKSWAGEN RABBIT, DROVE ACROSS COUNTRY TO LOS ANGELES, ONLY TO MEET A NEW YORKER NAMED SPIKE LEE. AND HE AND I DID 12 PLUS FILMS TOGETHER. THAT’S FABULOUS. YOU KNOW, I HAVE THE SCHOOL DAYS POSTER FRAMED IN MY OFFICE, AS A MATTER OF FACT, TO WHERE ARE YOU PART OF SCHOOL DAYS. WHY IS IT PART OF SCHOOL DAYS? BUT I HOSTED THE SCREENING HERE IN BOSTON. I SEE. YES. VERY GOOD. YES. SO TELL US ABOUT THAT. LET’S START WITH SCHOOL DAYS AND THAT EARLY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIKE AND HOW YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM REALLY EVOLVED INTO SOMETHING ELSE. YES. I WAS LIVING IN LOS ANGELES IN A LITTLE STUDIO APARTMENT OVERLOOKING THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN AND I WAS DOING FREELANCE WORK. AND SPIKE LEE CAME TO SEE ONE OF THE SHOWS. I WAS THE DESIGNER ON. IT WAS A DANCE COMPANY IN SOUTH CENTRAL LOS ANGELES, AND THEY WERE DANCING TO STEVIE WONDER’S MUSIC. AND SPIKE WAS TELLING ME HOW TO GET MORE FILM EXPERIENCE. HE SUGGESTS THAT I GO TO UCLA OR USC TO THE FILM STUDIES DEPARTMENT AND SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER ON A STUDENT THESIS PROJECT. I DID BEFORE I KNEW IT, I WAS HEARING QUIET ON THE SET AND ROLLING ON A STUDENT PROJECT, AND THEN ONE MORNING, VERY EARLY BEFORE THE SUN CAME UP, I GOT A CALL. I SAID HELLO. THE OTHER PERSON SAID, RUTH. I SAID, HELLO, RUTH, HELLO. AND HE SAYS, THIS IS THE MAN OF YOUR DREAMS. AND I SAID, DENZEL. AND HE DIDN’T KNOW, THIS IS SPIKE. I WANT YOU TO DO MY FIRST STUDIO FILM SCHOOL. PLEASE. I REMEMBER COMING. AND SO WE SET UP IN NEW YORK IN HIS OFFICE, WHICH WAS A CONVERTED FIREHOUSE IN BROOKLYN. AND AND WE STARTED PREPPING FOR SCHOOL DAYS. AND THEN WE TRANSFERRED EVERYTHING TO ATLANTA, GEORGIA, OVER AT MOREHOUSE, WHERE HE WAS FROM. WE SHOT AT MOREHOUSE AND SPELMAN AND AND REALLY IMMERSED OURSELVES. BUT I HAD GONE TO AN HBCU. I’M A HAMPTON GRADUATE. SO THE SUBJECT MATTER WAS VERY FAMILIAR TO ME. I COULD DO IT. AND I KNEW IT WELL. YOU KNOW, THE COSTUMES YOU DESIGNED FOR SCHOOL DAYS, REALLY SPOKE TO THE AUDIENCE IN TERMS OF THE DIVISION BETWEEN THE SORORITIES, THE COLOURISM, WHICH WAS AN UNDERPINNING OF THE STORY IN SCHOOL DAYS. YEAH, THE THE COSTUMES SPOKE TO US AS WELL AS THE ACTORS AND ACTRESSES. YES. AND, YOU KNOW, THE WHOLE PLEDGING PROCESS. YES. THE WHOLE CULTURE OF HBCUS, COLLEGE LIFE, ALL OF THAT WAS ROLLED INTO ONE. AND WE HAD A GREAT TIME CREATING THOSE IMAGES AND TELLING THAT STORY. NOW, THAT WAS YOUR START, BUT YOU HAVE MOVED ALONG OVER YOUR CAREER. WE TALKED ABOUT WINNING OSCAR TWO OSCARS. YOU’VE BEEN NOMINATED FOR TWO OTHER OSCARS. YOU KNOW, YOU’VE GONE FROM PERIOD PIECES TO AFROFUTURISM AND HOW HAVE YOU DEVELOP SUCH A WIDE RANGE IN THE CLOTHING AND COSTUMES THAT YOU DESIGN? YEAH. SO I MEAN, THIS JOURNEY TO THE OSCARS STAGE WAS WAS NOT EASY. YOU KNOW, I’VE BEEN DOING THIS A LONG TIME. I MEAN, LONG BEFORE THEY INVENTED SPANX. SO YOU KNOW HOW HARD MY JOB WAS. BUT, YOU KNOW, THE THE JOURNEY WAS, OH, THERE’S SO MANY FILMS I THINK I COUNTED LIKE, I DON’T KNOW, 60 OR SO PROJECTS THAT I’VE WORKED ON. I DID THE PILOT FOR SEINFELD, I DID IN LIVING COLOR. I DID. I GET YOU SUCKA. I DID BAPS. I DID THE FIVE HEARTBEATS. YOU KNOW, I WENT THROUGH A PERIOD WHEN FILMING COOKING WAS ON OPENING UP TO BLACK FILMMAKERS LIKE ROBERT TOWNSEND AND KEENEN IVORY WAYANS AND THEY ALL HIRED ME. SO I WOULD FINISH ONE FILM AND THEN ON THE WEST COAST, ROBERT TOWNSEND WAS CALLING ME TO DO HIS FILMS SO I COULD START ALL OVER AGAIN. IF THERE WAS SOMETHING THAT I DIDN’T LEARN, I COULD LEARN, RELEARN IT, OR I COULD DO IT BETTER. AND THROUGHOUT HAVING A VERY RIGOROUS CAREER, I MEAN, I DID NOT STOP. I WAS LIKE A FREIGHT TRAIN RUNNING. AND I DID LIKE TWO, SOMETIMES THREE MOVIES A YEAR BACK THEN YOU HAD MAYBE THREE MONTHS OF PREP AND 2 OR 3 MONTHS OF SHOOTING, AND THEN YOU WERE DONE SO I COULD FIT TWO FILMS IN IN, IN ONE YEAR. AND IT JUST LAID OUT PERFECTLY LIKE THAT FOR ME. HEY, RUTH CARTER, ARE YOU GOING TO STA