Costume worn by Flip Wilson as Geraldine

Object Details

Created by

William "Bill" Lewis Belew, American, 1931 - 2008

Worn by

Flip Wilson, American, 1933 - 1998

Description

This costume, a dress and matching shorts, was worn by Flip Wilson as the character Geraldine Jones. The dress (a) is crushed velvet, and is tie-dyed in orange, purple, pink, and red on an off-white background. The bodice and sleeves of the dress are decorated with silver and orange rhinestones that are affixed to the fabric with prong snaps. The dress has full-length sleeves, a sweetheart front neckline and a scoop back. The hem of the dress hits at mid-thigh. Long orange fringe is attached along the inseam of each sleeve, underneath the bustline on the front and back of the dress, and along the hemline. The fringe affixed to the hemline is floor-length. All of the fringe is further embellished with long strands of orange bugle beads strung onto cord and finished with clear, faceted round beads. The bead strings are stitched into the fringe at approximately 1-inch intervals, although some of the strands are missing beads. The dress closes in the back with a pink zipper running from the top of the center back bodice to the center back below the waist, and secures with two (2) hook-and-eye closures, one at the top of the zipper and one at the waist. A fabric label at the interior proper left back neck has handwritten text in black ink reading "BB 3834." A barcode label from the Palace Costume Co. is adhered at the proper right back next to the zip closure.

Worn under the dress is a pair of matching 4-panel shorts (b) made from the same tie-dyed crushed velvet fabric as the dress. The shorts have a wide elastic waistband and are unlined. A fabric label at the interior proper right back below the waistband has handwritten text in black ink reading "BB 3834." A barcode label from the Palace Costume Co. is adhered to a piece of interfacing that is stitched to the center back seam.

Credit Line

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

1972

Object number

2013.127.1ab

Restrictions & Rights

No Known Copyright Restrictions

Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

Type

ensembles (costume)

dresses

shorts

Medium

velvet, fringe, rhinestones, glass beads, metal, and elastic

Dimensions

H x W x D (Dress, on form): 59 × 21 1/4 × 9 in. (149.9 × 54 × 22.9 cm)

H x W x D (Shorts, on form): 14 × 12 3/4 × 8 in. (35.6 × 32.4 × 20.3 cm)

H x W (Shorts, flat): 15 1/4 × 11 3/8 in. (38.7 × 28.9 cm)

Place used

NBC Studios, Burbank, Los Angeles County, California, United States, North and Central America

See more items in

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

Classification

Clothing-Costume

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Topic

African American

Clothing and dress

Comedy

Costume

Television

Record ID

nmaahc_2013.127.1ab

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd5a17f2319-97aa-4c72-8764-7c14803bdacf