Photograph of Kimora Lee Simmons, NYC, 2001: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

She is wearing a black sleeveless shirt with a deep neckline, connected by a safety pin near the bust. It reads [baby phat] and has sparkly firework shapes on it. She has long dark hair and is wearing diamond earrings. She is smiling with her mouth open and is leaning slightly towards the proper right side. She is standing in front of a wooden background.

There is a thin black border around most of the image. It is missing on the proper left side. There is a white border around the black border, which is thinner on the two sides and thicker on the top and bottom. The back of the photograph has light grey text repeated upside down in diagonal lines. There are tears at the top from where tape used to be. There are two yellow post-it notes near the top, one on either side. There is an inscription by Bill Adler at the bottom, handwritten in blue ink.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 2001
• Photograph by: Michael Benabib, American, born 1962
• Subject of: Kimora Lee Simmons, American, born 1975
• Subject of: Baby Phat, American, founded 1999
• Subject of: Phat Fashions LLC, American, founded 1992
• Type: portraits
• Type: inkjet prints
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 17 × 11 in. (43.2 × 27.9 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 13 1/8 × 10 3/4 in. (33.3 × 27.3 cm)
• Place captured: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Design
• Topic: Fashion
• Topic: Fashion design
• Topic: Hip-hop (Music)
• Topic: Photography
• Object number: 2015.132.91
• 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: © Michael Benabib Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.