SO MUCH has been written about the Dora Milaje, the all-female military group that protects the King and the fictional nation of Wakanda in the worldwide hit movie Black Panther.
While their origin is debatable, there are two things we can be certain about these Amazons-like women: The film trains the spotlight on their special force to highlight women empowerment, and the group’s costumes in the blockbuster movie were inspired by a Philippine tribe.
In an interview with Buzzfeed, Anthony Francisco, one of Marvel’s senior visual development illustrators and the one who did the concept art for the badass team of women, revealed that the now iconic red and gold costumes of the Dora Milaje were partly inspired by Filipino artifacts.
The interview also revealed that the Dora Milaje costumes also drew inspiration from the designs from African artifacts, samurai armor, ninja shoes and friendship bracelets.
Francisco, who grew up in the Philippines, said one of his relatives had many African artifacts and Filipino tribal decor in his house, so he considers the Dora Milaje’s design very personal.
Francisco is a concept artist and illustrator. Apart from Black Panther, his list of work includes the feature films Thor, Ragnarok, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy and Chronicles of Riddick.