Costume worn by Flip Wilson as Geraldine
date: label: Date
content: 1972
name: label: Created by
content: William "Bill" Lewis Belew, American, 1931 - 2008
label: Worn by
content: Flip Wilson, American, 1933 - 1998
notes: label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
place: label: Place used
content: NBC Studios, Burbank, Los Angeles County, California, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Clothing and dress
label: Topic
content: Comedy
label: Topic
content: Costume
label: Topic
content: Television
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: 2013.127.1ab
objectType: label: Type
content: ensembles (costume)
label: Type
content: dresses
label: Type
content: shorts
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: velvet, fringe, rhinestones, glass beads, metal, and elastic
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (Dress, on form): 59 × 21 1/4 × 9 in. (149.9 × 54 × 22.9 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (Shorts, on form): 14 × 12 3/4 × 8 in. (35.6 × 32.4 × 20.3 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (Shorts, flat): 15 1/4 × 11 3/8 in. (38.7 × 28.9 cm)