Jacket made by Joe Emsley and worn by Miles Davis: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This dark purple velvet jacket was made by Joe Emsley and worn by Miles Davis. The jacket is slim cut, with no lapel, full length straight cut sleeves and a scalloped hemline. The jacket closes at the center front with three (3) black metal snaps. It is slightly longer in the back than in the front. There is one (1) exterior pocket at the waist of the proper left front, with a scalloped bottom left corner. The interior opening band of this pocket has a strip of the lining material sewn to it, but the body of the pocket is unlined. There are three (3) darts along the back below the neckline. On the interior, the jacket is lined with a printed silk fabric in a white, red, and blue polka-dotted diamond design. There is one interior set-in pocket on the proper right front with a label sewn onto it. There are underarm perspiration shields under each arm made from the same material as the lining.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1960s
• Created by: Joe Emsley, American
• Worn by: Miles Davis, American, 1926 - 1991
• Type: jackets
• Medium: velvet, silk and metal
• Dimensions: H x W x D (On form): 28 1/2 × 26 × 10 1/2 in. (72.4 × 66 × 26.7 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Flat): 28 1/2 × 17 in. (72.4 × 43.2 cm)
• Place made: New York City, Manhattan, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Clothing and dress
• Topic: Instrumentalists (Musicians)
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Object number: 2014.97.4
• 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.