The Fashion at Last Night’s ‘Black Panther’ Premieres was Fantastic
The Black Panther premiere screenings all over town Thursday night brought out heroic levels of African fashion, cosplay, and clever bootleg Wakanda t-shirts. With packed movie houses across San Francisco, the Broke-Ass Justice Fashion Squad hit several theaters to get these red carpet premiere pictures of fans’ wardrobes inspired by the Black Panther pantheon.
“I’m super excited about Black Panther because it’s incredibly inspiring to see this sort of black culture on the big screen with a lot of money behind it,” said Black Panther superfan Michele Ross (below, left) at the Alamo Drafthouse premiere.
“The image of Africa is very positive and futuristic,” she added. “That’s something we don’t get to see much, so it’s huge.”
Over at the AMC Metreon 16, 11 of 16 screens were playing Black Panther Thursday night! The only other movies they even bothered playing were Fifty Shades Freed and something called Monster Hunt 2. Wait, there was even a Monster Hunt 1? I didn’t know! I would have totally gone to see that!
Not as many people dressed up at the Metreon, but there was some effort made.
But back at the Alamo Drafthouse, many a person was donning a dashiki. “I was really excited about Black Panther,” said Abaho Katabarwa (above, left).
”I’ve always been a superhero fan,” Katabarwa continued. “Me and my friends always watch every Marvel and every DC. This is finally a superhero movie that’s representative of me.”
“I had to come from work, so I had to keep it kosher,” said Maryanna Quigless, above, who was just cold handing out those custom-made Black Panther posters to people for free. “There’s a lot of interest in Black Panther at work. Today the black community group at work had people making Black Panther posters, and this was one of the different pieces of art that one of the designers made. It wasn’t a black person. Everyone’s into it, not just black people.”
“I went with an African print dress and a very big necklace,” Quigless continued. “Big jewelry is really important in this movie, there’s a lot of statement pieces.”
Peep these African lightning bolt earrings and gold face decor on someone named Shanna! “I’m doing the gold under my eyes,” Shanna told BrokeAssStuart.com. “It’s based on the character Shuri in the film. But her character gets it from the Xhosa people in South Africa.”
“The first time I ever went to Africa it was with a family that was Xhosa,” she said. “So I’m wearing this in honor of them today.”
Mission: Comics and Art, whose Patreon you can join right now, had a sweet table full of Black Panther collectibles and memorabilia. “Black Panther is an African character, the king of a technologically advanced country in Africa,” said Mission: Comics and Art owner Leef Smith. “That connects to African nationalism, and looking to Africa for inspiration.”
Alamo Drafthouse SF was handing out these kick-ass commemorative Black Panther pint glasses, but they were an exclusive deal for people who bought advance tickets for opening night. I don’t think you can get them anymore.
A tipster from the Alamo Drafthouse Houston let us know that theater was doing a special African-themed Black Panther menu for premiere night.
Many fans’ outfits had very powerful backstories. Others, not so much.
“I’m wearing my boyfriend’s turquoise and white dashiki, it’s fresh from Coachella 2017,” said Amy Nguyen (above left). “It has sweat stains under the armpit, which is why I’m wearing a puffy jacket over it. There’s also a drool stain on the dashiki.”
The Broke-Ass Film Critics Circle has not yet seen Black Panther, so we cannot yet comment on the film itself. All we can say is that people walking out afterward were raving that it was great, and they insisted you should stay until the very end of the movie’s closing credits.
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