Our Diverse 100: Meet Johnetta Boone, the woman adding color to costume design

As a costume designer, Johnetta Boone’s work has appeared all across screens large and small. From “The Notebook” to “For Colored Girls” and “The Single Moms Club,” she has helped to perfect the wardrobe of some of the most enjoyable films. This Q&A is part of a special series examining diversity in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Read more profiles here.

At what point did you realize your race and/or gender was impacting your career, positively or negatively?

My race didn’t start having an impact on my career until I did “Cadillac Records.” Prior to that, the majority of the work I had done was not of the black culture. Once I designed that, it segued into doing more projects of color. It showcased my work in other ways — not only was it a black project, but it was a period piece — and allowed people to see that I had some diversification in the work I could do.

Was there a person in the industry that looked like you and made you think this could be a career for you?

Unfortunately, there was not. I was in high school in the '70s and that’s was when the idea of costume design crossed my path as I was looking at films from the '40s and '50s. At that time, there were no notable black costume designers.

How then did you stumble into it?

I went to the Fashion Institute of Technology to study design and merchandising. I never thought being a costume designer was attainable because that was Hollywood and I was from Anacostia in Washington, D.C.; it didn’t seem like an option. But when I was in New York, I became an assistant fashion stylist. When I began doing my own styling, I was approached to design a look for Kiki Shepard at “Showtime at the Apollo” and then I went on to “The Apollo Comedy Hour.” From there, I segued into designing the television show “Linc’s.” By then, Ruth Carter, someone of color, clued me in to this as a career.

What would being in the film academy, if you ever got the invite, mean to you?

It would indicate that the academy is serious about their diversification statement by allowing someone like myself who never even dreamed of anything like this being attainable to be a member.

What’s your favorite Oscar memory?

I loved when Jennifer Hudson won for “Dreamgirls.” She was someone who broke all the barriers. She wasn’t the right size, lost on “American Idol” and went out and nailed it in that movie.

READ MORE: Here are 100 people in Hollywood who could help fix the academy’s diversity problem