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

The object in the museum catalogue

This customized pair of blue jeans was worn as part of a costume along with a hand-decorated bra top and hand-painted mid-calf boots. The jeans are constructed of several panels of machine-made blue cotton twill denim, and are in a heavily flared, bell-bottom style. The legs panels are machine-sewn together using a zig-zag stitch, with the raw edges left exposed to create a frayed, decorative effect. The proper front of each leg has a small pocket at the waist, a small pocket at the knee, and a large pocket near the hem. There are no pockets on the proper back of the jeans. All of the pockets are top-stitched around the edges using a machine zig-zag stitch. Each pocket has a half-circle flap over the top that closes with a copper-colored metal snap button with an etched design. The top center waist has a zipper covered with a fly panel of denim, and a snap button closure using the same style of snap as on the pockets. The waistband is sewn to the legs as one continuous band of doubled denim fabric with exposed frayed fabric edges, leaving a decorative effect around the top and bottom sides of the waist. At the proper back of the waistband is a piece of blue elastic, 1 ¼ inch wide and 7 ½ inches long, machine-sewn between the two denim pieces.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 2001-2004
• Created by: Johnette Dodson, American
• Worn by: Johnette Dodson, American
• Subject of: Soul Train, American, 1971 - 2006
• Type: jeans
• Medium: cotton denim, elastic, and metal buttons
• Dimensions: H x W x D (Flat): 39 3/8 × 13 1/2 × 1 3/4 in. (100 × 34.3 × 4.4 cm)
• 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: 2014.227.1.2
• 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.