Yellow cocktail dress designed by Don Loper and worn by Ella Fitzgerald
date: label: Date
content: 1950s
name: label: Designed by
content: Don Loper, American, 1906 - 1972
label: Worn by
content: Ella Fitzgerald, American, 1917 - 1996
notes: label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Clothing and dress
label: Topic
content: Costume
label: Topic
content: Costume design
label: Topic
content: Design
label: Topic
content: Jazz (Music)
label: Topic
content: Singers (Musicians)
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Clothing - Costume
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Estate of Ella Fitzgerald
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2010.20.2
objectType: label: Type
content: cocktail dresses
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: No Known Copyright Restrictions
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: silk, rayon, and foil cloth, silk chiffon, silk satin, synthetic fiber, and metal fasteners
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 38 x 21 in. (96.5 x 53.3 cm)