Can anyone tell me what the clothes are called that Bucky wears in the Black Panther post credits scene? I think I saw some meta going around that discussed the inspiration for the Wakandan clothes somewhere. I need to research what it is (and what he would wear underneath) for a fic. 😉
So I did some research and read the articles you all recommended. Most of the pieces that cover the design of the Wakandan outfits talk about Lesotho inspired blankets. Turns out I can stop trying to find a cooler name cuz they’re officially called ”blankets” and they’re still dope cuz they speak to the culture and history of the person wearing it. W’kabi and his border tribe are wearing it like a cloak over their shoulders or wrapped around their person burrito style:
Now, I thought that Bucky should wear the same style since he’s living with them (his hut seems to be besides a remote lake but the surrounding huts all look very similar to the ones we see earlier in the movie when T’challa visits W’kabi in his village so it must be close by unless it’s Nakia’s river tribe home which seems unlikely with their green color scheme and all) BUT Bucky’s clothes looked much lighter in comparison to W’kabis: They alsoseem to have a different style so I looked for other cultures that inspired the Black Panther costume department team and found this picture of Maasai warriors on pinterest:
These outfits look very similar to Bucky’s. Bear with my ugly arrows that will hopefully make sense at the end of this. I could’t just take one picture of this beautiful man and move on. Nope:
So, the red cloth is called a “shúkà” or “shuka”. Both Bucky and the Maasai warrior have the red color that’s typical for traditional Maasai clothing and the lighter fabric compared to the Lesotho blankets. Bucky even wears a similar belt to the warrior in the first picture.
The fabric also has checks on it like the warriors in the second picture (especially the one on the right) which is common among the Maasai according to this site:
“The Maasai shuka is another type of cloth that is used here in northern Tanzania. They are usually checkered or plaid, although some designs are striped. They are brightly colored, with red being the most popular color. Heavier and thicker than kanga, kitenge or kikoi, they are usually made from acrylic rather than cotton. The Maasai men wear them draped over one shoulder or wrapped around their waists. They are also used as shawls, blankets and table clothes, among other things.” (x)
Most of my arrows here point at the light striped fabric Bucky is wearing underneath because it’s hard to catch unless you watch it frame by frame or see a close up:
I noticed that the light red fabric is peaking out at his collarbone and goes all the way down to his calfs. It looks like he’s actually turned that shuka into pants that he wears under the outer one. Regulation? I don’t think so but it could also be a normal variation. What do I know? You can see the pant legs in the first and last two pictures when he walks.
I’m guessing this functions as the underwear of his outfit as well. Like some kind of traditional underwear jumpsuit. According to my reasearch it’s common to wear a finer fabric underneath the outer shuka which is less cherished and more resiliant but I’ve seen pictures where there’s no underwear in western style or a shuka under the outer one visible. Like this for instance:
If you need the info to undress Bucky in fanfics I’d say you’re good to write whatever. The underwear rules are still unclear to me. Modern Maasai seem to wear boxer briefs sometimes but maybe it’s a question of the climate or something? I’m starting to feel like a creep every time I open google to check so I’ve probably seen enough examples.
Of course I wondered why Marvel can’t just dressed him in a blanket like the other border tribe members and make my life easier, considering that it makes him stand out so much but then I noticed that his neighors had the same kind of outfit and I came up with some theories:
I think that the shuka is probably much better suited for farm work, so everyone in the picture wears a similar style. My other guess is that they decided to use it for Bucky specifically because it’s easier to handle with one arm. I figure it doesn’t put as much weight on his left shoulder (only the scarf protects it) so it’s a good choice for him and it gives him this traditional warrior connotation with the red. From a psychological perspective, because the shuka is usually worn draped over one shoulder, the Wakandans might have intended to make him feel more “whole” if he could wear clothes that are naturally supposed to leave one side exposed but that’s just another wild guess.
I think it’s interesting to notice what he doesn’t wear, too: There’s no jewelry. Maasai men combine this kind of outfit with beaded bracelets but maybe that was too much for Marvel with the man bun and everything. For footwear, they wear sandals so that should be Bucky’s go to footwear, too, but he’s barefoot in the BP clip. Maybe that speaks to his whole new born hippy vibe? I don’t know. Last but not least, Maasai men also carry a stick or a small sword (called olalem or “Ol Alem”) with them but Bucky is unarmed as far as I can see. I figure if he wanted a weapon at hand he could be armed with something like an olalem when he’s out on the farm. It looks kinda cool:
I’m not gonna do a whole analysis here but it seemed worth it to note that he wears Western clothes again while working when T’challa and Okoye bring him the new arm. Except for the shawl maybe that’s still in this older style. It’s hard to tell if he’s armed. It’s definately a very different look though from the Maasai inspired Jesus glow up to the greasy man with torn sleve and all.
Anyways, I think I’ve done enough meta to feel satisfied for now. 😉 Just thought I’d share my findings with you all.
If this post is dicriminating against the Maasai or African culture in any way, I’m very sorry. I don’t have a lot of actual knowledge about it so this is not 100% reliable. It’s all just random info I could find in articles and pictures so far.
For reference, here’s a better picture of Bucky’s Infinity War farming outfit
So, for further reference and because I can’t stop obsessing over this, I was a fool. I should have looked at the individual Wakandan tribes and their main inspiration in real life to begin instead of looking up fabrics. It would have made my life much easier but in my defense, there wasn’t much research and background information posted about it after Black Panther came out and I wrote the beginning of this meta post. I also can’t format the sources properly anymore for some reason… Writing is hard.
So anyways, I watched the movie again and I noticed that the red color scheme is specific to the Mining Tribe.
The original Maasai reference I found (which can be found way at the top of this post) is basically the base for this guy during the King’s challenge who guards/accompanies the Mining Tribe elder:
The man to the warrior’s right wears the same colors with some orange but it’s an overall with pants on the bottom. I guess, this is what Bucky is wearing underneath in the post credits scene because you can see it peak out (scroll upwards to compare the arrows).
The red/orange is pretty specific to the Mining tribe in the film (of course the Dora Milaje and some others wear it, too, but it’s meant as the official color for this tribe). In Wakanda, you can recognize individual tribes who live in different areas and work in different fields by the color or their clothing (blue/green for Nakia’s river tribe, dark blue for the Border tribe, black for the royal Panther tribe and so on).
According to the Marvel Cinematic Universe Wikia the Mining tribe was both inspired by the Maasai and the Himba people.
In Maasai culture, colors have a specific meaning. I found this quote about the color red on a site about traditional Maasai jewelry and thought it was a beautiful symbolism they might have applied to Bucky’s history/recovery and therefor chosen to stick him with the Mining tribe:
Other than the clothes, it makes sense that Bucky is staying with the Mining tribe in the post credits scene because the Himba people who inspired the design are traditional farmers and Bucky tending to the goats in Infinity War has become the second “plum craving” insider of the fandom.
“The men’s main tasks are tending to the livestock farming, herding where the men will often be away from the family home for extended periods, animal slaughtering, construction, and holding council with village tribal chiefs. […]
The OvaHimba are predominantly livestock farmers who breed fat-tailed sheep and goats, but count their wealth in the number of their cattle. They also grow and farm rain-fed crops such as maize and millet. Livestock are the major source of milk and meat for the OvaHimba. Their diet is also supplemented by cornmeal, chicken eggs, wild herbs and honey.” (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himba_people _)
There you have the reference to Bucky’s new occupation as a farmer and goat herder as well as some insides to what his diet might be.
The Himba homes I found also look very similar to the hut Bucky lives in.
Because the colors and style of clothing are so different in Infinity War, at first I wondered if they moved Bucky from the Mining tribe to the River tribe at some point but I changed my mind about that. The children still wear the same clothes as in the post credits scene. I just think it’s not the same hut anymore.
In Black Panther, the hut Bucky was sleeping in was located just at the edge of the lake. It’s possible that he was staying with a Mining Tribe family in the post credits scene, using the hut as a guest house.
Considering that a significant amount of time must have passed between BP and Infinity War, he could have build this hut and the fence for himself. It looks just small enough for one and I imagine he’d like to live a little farer away from the other huts for some piece and quiet and because he can see people coming from a distance.
T’challa and Okoye presumably travelled to Bucky from the capitol (the golden city) which should be in the opposite direction when they walk down a hill to get to him and present him with the new arm. The lake is much more far away from Bucky’s hut here compared to BP (top right corner of the frame) but you can see that it’s not a huge lake which is consistent with the BP post credits scene.
I’m still trying to figure out where this lake and Bucky’s hut are located exactly but I’m not sure what kind of map they used (Wakanda and its location is all over the place in different MCU movies) so I’m going with this one where the tribes are marked:
Bucky should be located somewhere around the area with the light blue dot on the bottom that says “Mining Tribe” (I hope I read that correctly, the quality is poor).
If everyone was wearing a different color, I’d still say Bucky’s with the River Tribe (dark blue dot) left of the capitol but well… That’s not what the meta says.
I’m not prepared to say Marvel didn’t care about the the locations or the tribe color and style of Bucky’s clothes in Infinity War anymore but perhaps they just wanted to emphasize his glow up later by giving him muted worn out Western clothes to make him more recognizable to a general audience and emphasize the “rugged farmer’s look” Western audiences are familiar with. I’m gonna let that slide.
T’challa and Okoye travelled all the way there by quintet and then went on foot for the last part to make a dramatic entrance or more likely, so they wouldn’t startle Bucky by flying in, I suppose. Maybe the long journey back to the capitol is why Bucky had to get so properly washed and hair conditioned instead of keeping the farm boy sweat?
Him being really far away from the golden city also explains why Bucky’s so fascinated with the capitol’s defenses later because he’d never actually spend any time there or had a proper look. “Where is the fight?” might not be a rhetorical question in this case.
Again, I enjoyed learning more about the real and fictional culture I based this meta on. However, I collected all my information from the internet for fandom purposes only. This is not a reliable source on the Maasai and Himba people. Please treat with caution and respect.
vvinterdumpling.home.blog 