Detroit’s Pensole Lewis College (PLC) of Business and Design continues to make history. As the nation’s only design-focused HBCU, the school just unveiled The Ruth E. Carter Apparel Creation Stu/deo, a groundbreaking, Adidas-backed design space honoring one of the most celebrated costume designers of all time, Blavity reports.
Recently, the college hosted the 2025 National Black Footwear Forum in collaboration with the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America. Known as “The Industry’s Homecoming,” the event united Black and brown leaders from across the design world to connect, collaborate, and celebrate culture through fashion and footwear.
Among the highlights was the reveal of the Ruth E. Carter Apparel Creation Stu/deo, a bold new hub designed to merge creativity, culture, and community. The space, built by Pensole Lewis College students Angel Buckens and Rodney Banks, features cutting-edge tools, industry-level technology, and a striking mural by Detroit fine arts painter and muralist Sydney G. James.
For Carter, the project represents a full-circle moment. A Hampton University alumna, she became the first Black person to win and be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, celebrated for her iconic work on films like Malcolm X and Black Panther. Now, her name will inspire the next wave of visionaries at another historic Black institution.
“I love collaborating with young people,” Carter said. “You know, I used to be a young person, and I’m no longer one, so I like to feel their energy because I feel like I was once them, and I still, in my soul, hold on to that spirit of creativity. So, whenever I’m around creatives who are the next generation, I’m really listening because I think their voice is important. I think their process is important for someone like me to hear them, to see them. So, the collaboration was more me listening and just answering their questions, and being a part of their process.”
Carter’s deep connection to Detroit made the project even more meaningful. “It’s like a Motor City Motown, and because we’ve always known of Detroit, because of the music, and the music was storytelling and inspiring,” she shared. “I did a movie called Sparkle here, and we explored the music creation of the Supremes. It was a period piece, and I kind of fell in love with Detroit then, just knowing its history. Then my exhibition opened at the Charles Wright Museum, and they brought me back here about eight or nine times. I gave lectures, had talks, and led tours, and I really got to meet the people. Knowing the history of Detroit and its economic upturns and downturns, I really felt like I had met a city of survivors.”
When asked why events like the National Black Footwear Forum matter so much, Carter reflected on how crucial community is for creatives of color navigating corporate spaces. “They get to exchange stories,” she explained. “I’m always amazed that once I tell somebody about what happened to me, something that I struggled with in corporate America or studio films… These kinds of collectives provide people of color who are creative and working in a corporate structure with an opportunity to commiserate… So these kinds of coming together make a huge difference in the life of a creative individual who’s out in the world trying to navigate the system.”
While Carter is often recognized for her visual storytelling, she’s quick to clarify her artistic lane. “I’m not a muralist; I’m a costume designer, and so representation in costume design has always mattered to me,” she said. “When I worked for Spike Lee, he wanted to show representation on camera because we weren’t seeing it the way that we know. We are seen in our communities. And then that carried all the way through with Ryan Coogler, and we’re working on Black Panther and telling the story of Wakanda and really imagining a world without colonization. So if you want to consider collective muralists, as I am the costume designer, there’s a production designer, a director telling a story. We paint murals with storytelling and filmmaking.”
Carter also shared words of encouragement for HBCU creatives ready to chase their dreams in fashion, footwear, or design. “Yeah, you can’t give up. Even if you think you really are terrible at it, you would be surprised at that little part of you that actually is a diamond in the rough, and you just can’t see it yet… it took me connecting to that part of my body that was rejecting the assignment and saying, ‘I’m going to ignore that,’ and I’m just going to keep moving one step in front of the other until it’s done. And when it got done, I was super proud of it.”
With Carter’s legacy guiding the way and Pensole Lewis College continuing to empower the next generation, the Ruth E. Carter Apparel Creation Stu/deo stands as a beacon of what’s possible when history, artistry, and innovation meet.
Cover photo: Pensole Lewis College, the Only Design-Focused HBCU In the U.S., Opens New Ruth E. Carter Apparel Creation Studio/Photo credit: Pensole Lewis College/Instagram