Welcome to the weekend POU!
Today we close out the series on African American Costume Designers with a rising star in the film industry.
Johnetta Boone
You may not recognize her name, but if you’ve enjoyed films like “Cadillac Records” and “For Colored Girls”, you’ve certainly seen her vision and work come to life on the big screen. Johnetta Boone, a 48-year-old married mother of two and Washington, D.C. native, has made a name for herself over the last 30 years in Hollywood as a premiere costume designer.
Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Boone attended the Duke Ellington School for Performing Arts high school and later the New York Fashion Institute of Technology. Boone worked as an assistant for a number of years while attending college, but eventually the time came for Boone to move on.
Boone struck out on her own and began styling for advertising and magazine editorials, but a unique opportunity arose when she was asked to design for “Showtime at the Apollo” and later the “Apollo Comedy Hour.” Having worked with still photography up until that point, Boone suddenly found inspiration in the moving pictures.
Though Boone’s career has reached a level where she is being requested to design costumes for major motion pictures, the crescendo up until this point was working alongside other costumers under the guidance of some well-known designers. One notable experience was working on the film “Runaway Bride” with Academy Award-winning designer Albert Wolsky.
“Some people are only interested in being costumers, but for me, because my background was stylized, designers recognized that immediately and allowed me to use those design skills,” Boone said. “My first large acknowledgement came from Albert Wolsky. He was interviewing for assistants and hired me immediately. During my first day of work he asked me to recreate the character played by Joan Cusak in Runaway Bride using my personal style.” Boone initially thought Wolsky was joking, but he was very serious and even asked Boone to recreate the jewelry she was wearing the day she interviewed for the position–jewelry she had made herself.
Boone worked as a costumer and designer on a number of other films, such as “Beloved” and “The Notebook”, as well as being a favorite of producer/director Tyler Perry, experiences that allowed her to cultivate her talents with respected veteran designers. These experiences prepared Boone for her inaugural design project, which came with the movie “Mickey”, a John Grisham screenplay about little league baseball directed by Hugh Wilson.
As costume designer, Boone gets to work early in the pre-production phase of a film. Her process involves a great deal of consideration and research after reading a script and having discussions with directors and actors to flesh out who a character is going to become over the course of the film. In the case of Tyler Perry’s “For Colored Girls”, a film based on the writing of Ntozake Shange, the characters already had a great deal of existing background, allowing Boone to draw inspiration from those stories while contemporizing the characters.
Boone recently signed on to design for a project on the history of basketball. “These are really important stories to tell,” she said. “I’m excited to be living in a world where we create entertainment and fantasy for the viewing public. It’s really important to work on these kinds of projects and to be a part of the making of a world that is a little more hopeful.”