Light pink dress worn by Whoopi Goldberg as Celie in The Color Purple: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Light pink dress worn by Whoopi Goldberg as the character Celie Harris Johnson in the film "The Color Purple." The ankle-length dress with three-quarter length tapered sleeves, gathered waist, and full skirt is made from a pale pink cotton with details in a pink, white, and gray woven striped check. The spread collar with a long square back, the cuffs of the sleeves, the waist band, the two (2) patch pockets on each front side hip of the skirt, and a center panel on the front skirt are all made of the striped check fabric. The collar is trimmed with cream floral lace with a scalloped edge. The dress closes down the center front with two (2) small round mother of pearl buttons with a star design and one (1) metal hook-and-eye fastener at the neck, and at the front waistband with one (1) metal hook-and-eye fastener, two (2) medium round mother of pearl buttons, and four (4) metal snaps. A slit is left open below the waistband closure on the proper left side of the skirt. The dress is not lined. Two labels are sewn at the interior center back neck; the bottom is a white cloth label with illegible black handwritten text above brown printed text reading "Palace Costume Co."; the top label is a white cloth label with a barcode adhered to the front of it and printed text above the barcode reading "PALACE COSTUME CO." and text below the barcode reading "37005001".

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1985
• Designed by: Aggie Guerard Rodgers, American, born 1943
• Manufactured by: Palace Costume Company, American, founded 1990
• Worn by: Whoopi Goldberg, American, born 1955
• Subject of: Alice Walker, American, born 1944
• Type: dresses
• Medium: cotton with mother of pearl buttons and metal closures
• Dimensions: H x W x D (On form): 50 3/4 × 19 1/4 × 15 in. (128.9 × 48.9 × 38.1 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: 2014.184.4
• 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 underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.