Hollywood Designer Brings Bold Color Back to Big Screen

When the trailer for "I Love Boosters" dropped in January, one comment captured the internet's mood perfectly: "Nice to see that someone remembers that colours exist!!!"

Shirley Kurata heard that message loud and clear. The Oscar-nominated costume designer behind "Everything Everywhere All at Once" just brought a rainbow revolution to Hollywood with writer-director Boots Riley's new film.

In "I Love Boosters," color isn't just decoration. It's the whole point. The movie follows Corvette, played by Keke Palmer, an aspiring fashion designer who leads a crew of shoplifters through a surrealist San Francisco where department stores are entirely monochrome—one location all red, another all blue, each a complete color world.

"Color is so key, because it helps create worlds," Kurata says. She designed costumes that pop against those bold backgrounds, dressing the boosters in eccentric disguises spanning different eras and aesthetics while they dodge detection.

This marks Kurata's second time building multiple visual universes after her Best Picture-winning work on "Everything Everywhere All at Once." That film took audiences from muted everyday reality to dimension-hopping chaos. "I Love Boosters" stays in one dimension but creates just as many distinct worlds through pure color.

The film also ventures behind the scenes of a fashion brand, showing the harsh reality of a Chinese factory where workers face brutal conditions. Even there, Kurata's costume choices tell the story visually.

Why This Inspires

Kurata's bold approach arrives at the perfect moment. Modern Hollywood has faded into grays and washed-out tones, making movies feel increasingly similar and lifeless.

Her work proves that visual joy still has a place on screen. By choosing vibrancy over safe neutral tones, she's reminding filmmakers that color can be a powerful storytelling tool, not just background noise.

The internet's enthusiastic reaction shows audiences are hungry for this change. They want to feel something when they look at the screen, not squint through another gray cityscape or beige corridor.

Kurata's success is opening doors for more daring visual choices in mainstream cinema, one bold costume at a time.