White platform boots for The Wiz costume worn by André De Shields: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

White platform boots from The Wiz costume ensemble worn by André De Shields in the original 1975 Broadway production. The boots are made from leather that is painted white. They have a rounded toe and close at the inner side of each ankle with a metal zipper that has a long shoe string knotted as a pull tab. The wooden platforms are also painted white, with the foot platform measuring 1 1/2 inches and the heel platform measuring 3 inches. White rubber non-skid soles are adhered to the bottoms of each platform.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1975
• Worn by: André De Shields, American, born 1946
• Designed by: Geoffrey Holder, Trinidadian American, 1930 - 2014
• Type: boots
• Medium: paint on leather with metal, wood and rubber
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 13 1/2 × 3 7/8 × 10 1/2 in. (34.3 × 9.8 × 26.7 cm)
• Place used: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Broadway Theatre
• Topic: Clothing and dress
• Topic: Costume
• Topic: Costume design
• Topic: Design
• Topic: Entertainers
• Object number: 2018.1.3.6ab
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of André De Shields
• 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 displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.