Yellow cocktail dress designed by Don Loper and worn by Ella Fitzgerald

Object Details

Description: This yellow and orange cocktail dress was designed by Don Loper and worn by Ella Fitzgerald. The bodice of the dress is fitted with a sweetheart neckline and spaghetti straps. It is made from a yellow, white, and silver metallic woven floral design. The bodice ends at the hip with a knee-length circle skirt below it. The skirt is made from two (2) layers of marigold colored silk chiffon with an underskirt made from a chartreuse synthetic fabric. The dress closes at the center back with a metal zipper that extends from the top of the bodice to below the hip, with top layer of the chiffon skirt slit and finished with a rolled hem, but not attached to the zipper. There is one (1) metal hook at the top of the zipper that attaches around a yellow thread loop and one (1) hook and thread loop closure at the bottom of the bodice.; The interior of the bodice is lined with cream silk satin. The seams of the bodice are pressed open and pinked. Cream woven tape is sewn to the side of each shaping seam with boning inside the tape, twelve (12) in total. At the center front an additional length of boning encased in orange rayon fabric is attached between the breasts. Sweat guards are whip stitched at both underarms. The guard on the proper left side has a white plastic side and a plain cotton side while the guard on the proper right side has two plain cotton sides. The skirt has no additional lining beneath the chartreuse underskirt.

Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Estate of Ella Fitzgerald

1950s

Medium: silk, rayon, and foil cloth, silk chiffon, silk satin, synthetic fiber, and metal fasteners
Dimensions: H x W: 38 x 21 in. (96.5 x 53.3 cm)

See more items in: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
Classification: Clothing-Costume
Exhibition: Musical Crossroads
On View: NMAAHC (1400 Constitution Ave NW), National Mall Location, Culture/Fourth Floor, 4 053

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Topic: African American; Clothing and dress; Costume; Costume design; Jazz (Music); Singers (Musicians)

GUID (Link to Original Record): http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd552f788e5-8aa5-4983-b09b-77d5fc1eef3a