a black woman designed the official black panther jewelry line, it’s dope af

By Antwan Herron* / WearYourVoice Mag, AFROPUNK contributor

Black Women are carving spaces for themselves in Hollywood, and now you can look like you just leapt out of Marvel’s upcoming ‘Black Panther’ film.

Thanks to Douriean Fletcher, an LA-based jewelry designer and Special Jewelry Costumer for Marvel’s upcoming, much-anticipated Black Panther film, you can look like you just leapt out of Wakanda.

Wakanda Forever. 2|16|2017 @im.angelabassett you wore this is so elegantly! #blackpanther This piece created my Moí Costume Design by @iamruthecarter #Marvel #IAmWakanda

A post shared by Douriean (@douriean) on Nov 9, 2017 at 10:52am PST

Look Mom! My work is on the cover of Vogue! Thank you @darianrobbins for making this dope cover. I’m claiming it…The Queen Angela Bassett (@im.angelabassett) adorned in my work on the cover of Vogue. #done #fakenews

A post shared by Douriean (@douriean) on Nov 5, 2017 at 8:07am PST

In an industry that is known for being homogeneously white, Fletcher is breaking new ground, traveling to South Africa to master her craft of telling the stories of women through jewelry, before setting up shop in LA.

In addition to having her work featured in Essence Magazine, she’s also taken her talents south, to New Orleans, the “Big Easy”, to teach youth of color the original purpose of jewelry making — the non-verbal expression of one’s inner creative essence.

Her work caught the attention of Ruth E. Carter, who brought Fletcher on as the Specialty Jewelry Costumer for the film.

You can bask in Fletcher’s original designs on the big screen, in all its blackety black glory, on February 16, 2018, if you haven’t already caught glimpses of it while watching the trailer on Youtube a bazillion times.

In the meantime, Fletcher is making specialty designs featured in the film available for purchase on her website. Presales started Dec 22 and last to Jan 6th, so hurry and order yours soon.

This post is in partnership with WearYourVoice Mag.

*Antwan is an educator, cultural critic, actor, and writer for Wear Your Voice Mag (WYV), where he focuses on the dynamics of class, race, gender, politics, and pop culture. Prior to joining the team at WYV, he was an adjunct professor in the African American Studies Department at Valdosta State University in southern Georgia, where he taught African American Literature. He has traveled the U.S. and U.K. showcasing a fifty-five minute, one-person play titled Whitewash, which focuses on the state of black men in the post-civil rights era. Antwan received his B.A. in English and Literature from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and M.A. in African American Studies from University of California, Los Angeles. He is a Ronald E. McNair Scholar and NAACP theater nominee.