Ruth E. Carter partners with Michigan’s only HBCU to launch Apparel Creation STU/DEO

“I’m grateful that my longstanding career has allowed my work to honor our history and culture while inspiring others to tell their own stories,” Carter said.

Two-time Academy Award-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter is making more history.

Carter recently partnered with Pensole Lewis College, aka PLC Detroit, the only design-focused HBCU and Michigan’s only HBCU, to debut the Apparel Creation STU/DEO by adidas. Pensole lost accreditation and closed in 2015, but it was reestablished in 2021 thanks to the efforts of D’Wayne Edwards, founder of the Pensole Footwear Design Academy.

“When I was a young designer, I hoped for places like the Apparel STU/DEO,” Carter, a Hampton University graduate herself, said. “I’m grateful that my longstanding career has allowed my work to honor our history and culture while inspiring others to tell their own stories.”

The National Black Footwear Forum and the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America were on hand to celebrate the launch of the stu/deo, which celebrates artistry, culture, and the empowerment of future designers. 

The launch of the apparel creation stu/deo features innovative ideas from PLC alums Angel Buckens and Rodney Banks, which underscore the mission of PLC Detroit to nurture creatives for generations to come.

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“This marked the second time PLC collaborated with Ruth E. Carter,” Edwards said of the partnership. “It was truly special to share this moment with over 1,000 BFF attendees, alongside our talented students and dedicated faculty.”

Carter and PLC Detroit came together in 2023 to announce the “Icons of Afrofuture” design challenge winners. She would later wear designs by Cresseide Jacques, D’on Lauren Edwards, Keanu Williams, aka King Nu, and Irueosa Osadayi Ohanmu during several NAACP fashion shows.

In 2023, Carter became the first Black woman to win multiple Academy Awards in any category after winning Best Costume Design for Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”. Her second win in the category made her the first to win for both a feature film and its sequel, after she made history for her 2019 Oscar win for “Black Panther.”

“Moments like this remind us that design is more than fashion—it is storytelling, it is culture, it is legacy,” Carter added about the stu/deo at PLC Detroit. “I am honored to mentor these brilliant young creatives as they begin to write their own chapters, and I cannot wait to see how their vision transforms the future of design.”