Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s vampiric period film starring Michael B. Jordan, made Academy Award history on Thursday when it was nominated for 16 Oscars, more than any other film in the history of the award ceremony’s 98-year run.
It toppled the 14 nominations previously received by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997), and La La Land (2016). In addition to Michael B. Jordan’s best actor nomination and Coogler’s best director nod, Sinners Oscar-winning costume designer, Ruth E. Carter, was also nominated for for her work on the film. It’s her fifth overall Oscar nomination.
That includes Smoke and Stack’s (twins played by Jordan) memorable 1930s-era three-piece suits, with complementary fedora and newsboy cap, timepieces, and tiepins.
Ruth E. Carter’s Oscar-nominated costumes from “Sinners” starring Michael B. Jordan as twins Smoke and Stack.
Coogler’s only direction to Carter was to dress Smoke in blue and Stack in red, she told The Inquirer in November.
Carter, not one to fret long, dove into her arsenal of research. By the time she began the fittings, she’d amassed an array of blue and red looks befitting of the 1930s sharecroppers-turned-bootleggers and juke joint owners.
“[And] when I put that red fedora on him, Ryan flipped out and said, ‘That’s it!’,” Carter said. “We wanted people to resonate with their clothing and it did.”
The Smoke and Stack effect went beyond Sinners. This Halloween there were tons of social media posts of revelers dressed as the mysterious twins.
Ruth E. Carter during the “Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design” opening gala at the African American Museum in Philadelphia on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025.
Also a part of AAMP’s Sinners display is the flowy earthy dress that best supporting actress nominee Wunmi Mosaku wore in her role as Annie. Annie is Smoke’s lover and a root woman who discovers the vampires in their Clarksdale, Miss., town.
Cornbread’s (Oscar Miller) tattered sharecropper outfit is on the dais along with Mary’s (Hailee Steinfeld) blush knit dress with its short-sleeved bodice and pussy bow accent. Her matching knit beret and pearls are also on display. In the film, Mary is Stack’s childhood friend, turned girlfriend, turned vampire.
“I immerse myself in the mind, body, and soul of my characters,” said Carter. “Then I see them in my mind, how they move and with research, I come up with a look that I feel is unique to them.”
The Sinners pieces are among the more than 80 looks featured in the “Afrofuturism” exhibit, joining outfits from The Butler (Lee Daniels), and from Malcolm X, Coming 2 America, Black Panther, and its sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
The show, headlining the African American Museum’s celebration of the nation’s Semiquincentennial, will be on display through September.
Lace gloves and knit dress detail of Mary (Hailee Steinfeld) costume from sinners.
During her five decades in the movie business, Carter has worked on more than 60 big-screen documentations of where Black Americans have been, who they are at the given moment, and who they dream of becoming.
Her work has shaped how the world sees African Americans.
In the 2010s, a friend of hers suggested she plan a museum exhibit around her costumes. After Black Panther, she partnered with Marvel, and in 2019, “Afrofuturism in Costume Design” debuted at the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Atlanta Campus.
The “Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design” exhibit at the African American Museum in Philadelphia on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025.
Philadelphia is the exhibit’s ninth — and longest — stop. It’s also the first stop for the Sinners costumes.
“I am a griot,” Carter said. “[Throughout my career,] I’ve developed a knowledge base that embraces our culture and speaks to all of us in a positive way.”
“Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design” will be on view through Sept. 6. at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, 701 Arch St., Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for children.
No one throws a “Happy 250th Birthday, America” jammy jam like a Philadelphia museum.
Embedded into the fabric of our nation’s birthplace, Philly cultural institutions are gearing up for high-level deep dives into history, fun, folly, and reflection. Just in time for the Semiquincentennial.
Our museums’ dynamic programming for America’s big birthday kicks off on Jan. 1.
The Philadelphia Art Museum, the National Constitution Center, the Museum of the American Revolution, and smaller outfits like Eastern State Penitentiary and Historic Germantown will, as expected, reimagine the history of our republic in an homage to the forefathers’ ingenuity.
Many are also honoring the perspective of marginalized Americans, upon whose backs this country was built.
Mixed into the Semiquincentennial festivities are other milestone birthdays. Carpenters’ Hall will celebrate the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s 250th with an exhibit, historical marker, statewide town halls, and virtual lecture series.
The new year also marks Germantown’s the Colored Girls Museum‘s 10th anniversary; it will open its fall 2026 season with a rare show from renowned sculptor vanessa german.
Renderings of The Franklin Institute’s world premiere of “Universal Theme Parks: The Exhibition” February 14, 2026 – September 7, 2026.
Philly is America’s birthplace. Our 250th birthday energy can’t be outdone.
From the looks of it, it won’t be.
Philadelphia Art Museum
The Philadelphia Art Museum has three major shows in 2026.
Noah Davis
The art museum’s Morgan, Korman, and Field galleries will feature the work of the late African American artist Noah Davis (1983-2015). Davis’ paintings, sculpture, and works on paper capture the history and intricacies of American Black life from antebellum America through his untimely death. Jan. 24-April 26.
“Untitled Girls” This painting by Noah Davis will be on display in the Philadelphia Art Museum’s 2026 exhibition named after the late artist
A Nation of Artists
Paintings, furniture, and decorative arts from Phillies managing partner John Middleton and his wife, Leigh, will center the “A Nation of Artists” exhibit, telling the 300-yearslong story of American creativity. The exhibit is a joint project between the Philadelphia Art Museum and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and is billed as “the most expansive presentation of American art ever mounted in Philadelphia.” Opens April 12.
Rising Up
2026 marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the first Rocky film. To coincide, the Art Museum in April will open “Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Moments” in the museum’s Dorrance galleries. The exhibit will explore how the Rocky statue outside the museum brings people together. April 25-Aug. 2.
Phillies owner John Middleton is photographed next to a painting to his left, part of his personal collection and soon to be exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Visitors at the Museum of the American Revolution in front of a portrait of Absalom Jones, abolitionist and founder of The First African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas. Jones’ writings are on display.
Penn Museum
Spear points dating to 3,000 B.C., centuries-old bowls, and 19th century beaded collars are a few of the items that illustrate the lives Lenape Indians led fishing on the banks of the Schuylkill and hunting in Fairmount Park. These are on display at Penn Museum’s new Native North American gallery. Visiting curator Jeremy Johnson chose these artifacts because, he said, they best “tell the story of his people — who the Founding Fathers tried to erase.” Through 2027.
A gallery of Native American art is displayed at the Penn Museum on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Philadelphia. As celebrations of Native American culture and precolonial Philadelphia plants grow, museums across the city prepare for America’s 250th birthday.
Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History
On Nov. 16, 1776, the Andrew Doria brigantine arrived in the Caribbean on the British colony St. Eustatius, waving the first national flag of the United States. The Jewish merchants and English settlers, treated poorly by their antisemitic Anglican monarchs, greeted the newly minted Americans with a 13-cannon salute. In that moment, St. Eustatius became the first country to recognize America’s sovereignty.
Cannon from the shores of St. Eustatius much like those fired in the 18th century that will will be on display during “First Salute.” 250tharts-12-28-2025
Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History’s“The First Salute” exhibit will recount this largely untold story — including how the Jewish merchants smuggled the Americans’ gunpowder in tea and rice bags, giving Pirates of the Caribbean meets Hamilton vibes. Artifacts on display will include 18th-century currency, a series of paintings from prominent Jewish Philadelphian Barnard Gratz’s art collection, and an actual cannon shot from the island’s shores. From April 23, 2026, through April 2027.
National Constitution Center
Centered around a rare, centuries-old copy of the U.S. Constitution — a gift from billionaire hedge fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin — the National Constitution Center will present “America’s Founding.“ The gallery will be dedicated to the exploration of our early, colonial principles that led our fight for independence. How do they stand up now? Opens Feb. 13.
This original copy of the U.S. Constitution, one of only 14, was donated to the National Constitution Center by billionaire hedge fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin. It will be featured in the Constitution Center’s upcoming “America’s Founding” exhibit.
A second gallery will explore how the Constitution defines roles and balances power between the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government. Opens in May.
Ruth E. Carter pauses briefly during the “Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design” opening gala at the African American Museum in Philadelphia on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025.
In October 2026, AAMP will premiere the extension of its “Audacious Freedom” exhibit. Currently on the ground floor, the exhibit is a study of Black Philadelphians from 1776 to 1876. The expanded show will bring “Audacious Freedom” up to present day and will include 20th-century artists and educators, from Charles Blockson to Jill Scott.
Woodmere Art Museum
Inspired by Philadelphia illustrator and friend of WoodmereJerry Pinkney, the Chestnut Hill museum’s Semiquincentennial show, “Arc of Promise,” acknowledges America’s painful histories of slavery, injustice, and displacement of its Indigenous people while affirming its capacity to rebuild, renew, and evolve. Featuring art by Philadelphians dating to 1790, “Arc of Promise’s” paintings, sculptures, maps, and flags explore what freedom and justice for all truly means. Opens June 20.
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
In collaboration with California State University ethnobotanist Enrique Salmón, the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University will debut “Botany of Nations: Indigenous Ecological Knowledge and the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery.” These centuries-old plants, collected by explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, were a gift to Philadelphia’s American Philosophical Society from Thomas Jefferson. Organizers hope the selection of now-pressed plants — prairie turnip, camas root, and Western red cedar — will be a vegetative portal to the Indigenous perspective in American frontier life. From March 28, 2026, through Feb. 14, 2027.
Samples from Botany of Nations. Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, March 28, 2026 – February 14, 2027
The Clay Studio: Center for Innovation in Ceramic Art.
Twenty-five artists from 20 Philadelphia cultural institutions will present projects that show how the definition of independence evolved from 1776 through 1876, 1926, 1976, and 2026 under the umbrella of the Clay Studio. The exhibit, “Radical Americana,” will start with a compelling show by Kensington potter Roberto Lugo on April 9. Artists will mount additional shows at participating institutions throughout the year, including at the Museum for Art in Wood and Cliveden Historic House. A full list is available at theclaystudio.org. Opens April 9.
Roberto Lugo is shown working on one of his Greek vases that is now part of a new exhibition, “Roberto Lugo / Orange and Black” at Art@Bainbridge, a gallery project of the Princeton University Art Museum
Mural Arts Philadelphia
Mural Arts is working on several projects that will spruce up the city in 2026. That includes a new focus on the city’s entryways, the restoration of several murals, and a collaboration between Free Library of Philadelphia in a community printmaking project. At least three new murals will debut and include a tribute to artists Questlove (of the legendary Roots crew) and Boyz II Men. A refurbished mural in honor of Philadelphia’s first director of LBGTQ affairs, the late Gloria Casarez, will be unveiled. Mural Arts also is partnering with the Philadelphia Historic District on sculptures for next year’s 52 Weeks of Firsts programming and with the Bells Across PA program to create Liberty Bell replicas in neighborhoods throughout the city.
A rendering of a tribute to Gloria Casarez City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Michelle Angela Ortiz, 12th Street Gym, 204 South 12th Street.
