Black dress worn by Oprah Winfrey as Sofia in The Color Purple
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Object Details
- Designed by
- Aggie Guerard Rodgers, American, born 1943
- Manufactured by
- Palace Costume Company, American, founded 1990
- Worn by
- Oprah Winfrey, American, born 1954
- Subject of
- Alice Walker, American, born 1944
- Description
- Black dress worn by Oprah Winfrey as the character Sofia Johnson in the film "The Color Purple." The short-sleeved shift dress is made from a single piece of black rayon-cotton blend satin that is folded in half at the shoulder and seamed down each side, with a neck hole cut at the fold. A gusset made of the satin blend is sewn at each side seam reaching approximately 9 inches above the hem. The sleeves are edged with a brown, green, and purple paisley printed cotton and trimmed in red rickrack. Black silk satin panels are sewn into each underarm with the wrong side facing. The collarless neck is also trimmed in the red rickrack. Three (3) squares of the paisley print trimmed in red rickrack are set on point and sewn at the front waist, one at the center front flanked by the other two. Lengths of the paisley print are attached to the outer point of each side square and used as a belt that ties in the back. There is a patch pocket made of the paisley print and trimmed in red rickrack sewn at the proper right front side. The dress is not lined. There are no closures or fasteners as the loose dress is donned by slipping over the wearer's head and then tied at the waist. Two tags are sewn to the center back neck; the bottom tag is a white fabric label with handwritten ink text reading "CD 245" above brown printed text reading "Palace Costume Co."; the top tag is a white fabric label with a barcode adhered to the center front with text above the barcode reading "PALACE COSTUME CO." and text below the barcode reading "37158666".
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
- 1985
- Object number
- 2014.184.1.1
- Restrictions & Rights
- No Known Copyright Restrictions
- Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
- Type
- dresses
- Medium
- rayon and cotton satin, cotton, silk satin, and trimming
- Dimensions
- H x W x D (On form): 48 1/4 × 24 1/2 × 12 in. (122.6 × 62.2 × 30.5 cm)
- Place used
- North Carolina, United States, North and Central America
- California, United States, North and Central America
- See more items in
- National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
- Classification
- Clothing-Costume
- Exhibition
- Taking the Stage
- On View
- NMAAHC (1400 Constitution Ave NW), National Mall Location, Culture/Fourth Floor, 4 054
- National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Topic
- African American
- Actors
- Clothing and dress
- Costume
- Costume design
- Design
- Families
- Film
- Gender
- LGBTQ
- Literature
- Sexuality
- Violence
- Women
- Record ID
- nmaahc_2014.184.1.1
- Metadata Usage (text)
- CC0
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd5e5b48c80-fa84-4261-8c8b-e7490ddfe708
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