Bra top worn on Soul Train by dancer Johnette "Suki" Dodson: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This hand-designed bra was worn as part of a costume along with customized blue jeans and hand-painted mid-calf boots. The bra is a hand-decorated ivory store-bought underwire bra with heavily padded cups, adjustable straps, and a hook-and-eye back closure. The bra is decorated with faux fur in neon blue and neon pink with silver threads, which is attached to the surface of both cups with hot glue. The center front section is covered by a piece of the blue faux fur fabric, with a panel of lime green synthetic fleece stitched on top of the blue. Small pieces of this same fabric cut into a diamond shape also are applied to the bottom band, and to the front straps. A synthetic ribbon, in a pattern of yellow, pink, orange, and green, is woven through the diamond-shaped holes on the fabric covering the cups. Gold synthetic fringe hangs 3 ½ inches below the cups, and is applied on the verso bottom edge of the cups with hot glue. On the back closure, a nonfunctional metal button, covered in yellow fabric, is hand sewn to the proper right recto side. A manufacturer’s label is sewn into the seam on the proper left verso back closure (for full text see Transcription note).

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 2001-2004
• Created by: Johnette Dodson, American
• Worn by: Johnette Dodson, American
• Manufactured by: Vassarette
• Subject of: Soul Train, American, 1971 - 2006
• Type: brassieres
• Medium: synthetic fiber, fringe, metal, and adhesive
• Dimensions: H x W x D (Flat): 13 × 26 1/2 × 2 1/2 in. (33 × 67.3 × 6.4 cm)
• Place used: Los Angeles, California, United States, North and Central America
• Place used: Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Clothing and dress
• Topic: Costume
• Topic: Dance
• Topic: Design
• Topic: Fashion
• Topic: Music
• Topic: Popular music
• Object number: 2014.227.1.1
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Johnette Dodson known by her stage name "Suki"
• 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.