Hollywood costume designer Ruth E. Carter has teamed up with Crown Royal to design a Crown Royal x Coming 2 America limited-edition pack. The gifted Hollywood seamstress designed the costumes for the upcoming film Coming 2 America and revamped the whisky’s signature bag with a unique purple and gold stitched jaguar. Carter, who won an Academy Award in 2019 for The Best Costume Design for her Black Panther creations, recently spoke with BET about the collaboration and her inspiration for designing the packaging.
“Crown Royal has a legacy of real royalty,” she explained to BET. “So this collaboration is different from others I’ve had in the past because it’s a direct connection to Coming 2 America, which celebrates Black Royalty. So I redesigned the box with iconic prints that I put into Coming 2 America. The embroidery that Prince Akeem wears and the lion that’s on his shoulders are on the box. So we’re really celebrating perseverance and royalty with this limited-edition Crown Royal packaging. That’s exciting because now people have something to go along with their outfits that they wear to see the movie, and they can have a gift that they can exchange.”
Carter has worked with Eddie Murphy in the past and designed the costumes for his hit film Dolemite Is My Name. With Malcolm X, The Five Heartbeats and What’s Love Got to Do With It being just a few more of her esteemed costume credits, Carter also told BET that the bottle was a keepsake to experience with the film.
“So not only was it a huge responsibility, but I found myself feeling like I had contributed to the culture with Coming 2 America because I got to dress Prince Akeem. I got to dress to Semmi, the guys in the barbershops, and Shari Headley,” she detailed. “So I tried to develop things that I felt would be significant. One of the signatures was the masks’ embroidery, the different beautiful prints all mixed together. And I got an opportunity to put that in the packaging on Crown Royal’s box.
“And we were cruelty-free. We didn’t want it to feel like it was like an animal on your shoulder. So we 3D printed the beautiful lion head that Eddie wears in the film, and I got to put that on the box too. So this is a keepsake. This meant a lot to me to do and [it] will have some meaning for people who collect the bags and collect the boxes. It’s full of substance.”
Coming 2 America debuts exclusively on Amazon Prime on March 5. The Crown Royal x Coming 2 America limited-edition pack is in select stores now and has already sold out at many online retailers.
