Black dress worn by Oprah Winfrey as Sofia in The Color Purple
date: label: Date
content: 1985
name: label: Designed by
content: Aggie Guerard Rodgers, American, born 1943
label: Manufactured by
content: Palace Costume Company, American, founded 1990
label: Worn by
content: Oprah Winfrey, American, born 1954
label: Subject of
content: Alice Walker, American, born 1944
notes: label: Description
content: 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".
place: label: Place used
content: North Carolina, United States, North and Central America
label: Place used
content: California, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Actors
label: Topic
content: Clothing and dress
label: Topic
content: Costume
label: Topic
content: Costume design
label: Topic
content: Design
label: Topic
content: Families
label: Topic
content: Film
label: Topic
content: Gender
label: Topic
content: LGBTQ
label: Topic
content: Literature
label: Topic
content: Sexuality
label: Topic
content: Violence
label: Topic
content: Women
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
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2014.184.1.1
objectType: label: Type
content: 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: rayon and cotton satin, cotton, silk satin, and trimming
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (On form): 48 1/4 × 24 1/2 × 12 in. (122.6 × 62.2 × 30.5 cm)