Black dress worn by Oprah Winfrey as Sofia in The Color Purple: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

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".

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1985
• Designed by: Aggie Guerard Rodgers, American, born 1943
• Manufactured by: Palace Costume Company, American, founded 1990
• Worn by: Oprah Winfrey, American, born 1954
• Subject of: Alice Walker, American, born 1944
• Type: dresses
• Medium: rayon and cotton satin, cotton, silk satin, and trimming
• Dimensions: H x W x D (On form): 48 1/4 × 24 1/2 × 12 in. (122.6 × 62.2 × 30.5 cm)
• Place used: North Carolina, United States, North and Central America
• Place used: California, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Clothing and dress
• Topic: Costume
• Topic: Costume design
• Topic: Design
• Topic: Families
• Topic: Film
• Object number: 2014.184.1.1
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.