Costume vest by Diana Ross as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Light green wool twill cropped vest with fur-trimmed armholes worn by Diana Ross as Billie Holiday in the Paramount Pictures produced 1972 film "Lady Sings the Blues." The vest has an open shawl collar with pointed lapels. The proper right front crosses over the proper left front and snaps closed with green fabric covered snaps. There are four snaps, three along the proper right bottom edge and one at the point of the proper left side, and one hook along the bottom right edge that attaches to a thread loop on the left side. Two large teal covered fabric round buttons sewn on the proper right front are decorative. The vest ends at a point at the center back, and a weight is sewn between the facing and lining at this center back point. Brown fur is sewn around the arm openings. The vest is fully lined in light green silk satin. There is a panel of teal lining fabric at the arm openings and the fur trim is lined with black satin. All of the lining is hand sewn.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1972
• Designed by: Bob Mackie, American, born 1940
• Designed by: Ray Aghayan, Iranian American, born 1934
• Designed by: Norma Koch, American, 1898 - 1979
• Worn by: Diana Ross, American, born 1944
• Subject of: Billie Holiday, American, 1915 - 1959
• Type: vests (main garments)
• Medium: wool twill, fur, and silk satin
• Dimensions: H x W x D (Flat): 21 × 21 × 3 1/2 in. (53.3 × 53.3 × 8.9 cm)
• Place used: United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Clothing and dress
• Topic: Costume
• Topic: Costume design
• Topic: Design
• Topic: Fashion
• Topic: Film
• Object number: 2012.64.4.2
• 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.