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Fitted dress with rainbow sequins and beading designed by Peter Davy

African American Museum

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    Object Details

    Designed by

    Peter Davy, Saint Vincentian, 1944 - 1990

    Subject of

    Black Fashion Museum, American, 1979 - 2007

    Description

    A fitted floor-length dress with rainbow colored sequins and beading designed by Peter Davy. The dress has a high rounded front neckline and a plunging V-neck back neckline, with short cap sleeves and shaping at the natural waist and hips. The straight skirt has a rounded hem that tapers up at the proper left side where there is a thigh-high slit in the skirt. The dress is made from a light brown synthetic knit fabric, which can be seen between layers of heavy embellishment in beads and sequins. Rows of sequins are sewn to the light brown fabric in a diagonal beginning at the proper right shoulder and sleeve in green, blue, silver, orange, green, pink, silver, and blue stripes of varying widths. Some sections have additional embellishments. Two (2) green sequin and bead flower paillettes are attached at the proper right shoulder section. The orange section extends down to the hips, but the topmost diagonal portion runs over the proper left shoulder and sleeve. Four (4) orange sequin and bead flower paillettes are attached at the proper left shoulder section. Long strands of pink seed beads ending in a pink sequin are attached in the pink section on the skirt, left loose to dangle as fringe. The bottom section of the skirt has rows of blue sequins oriented vertically unlike the other horizontal or diagonal sections. A row of blue sequin and bead flower paillettes is attached around the hem and slit opening of the bottom blue section. Heavy clusters of beaded fringe extend approximately four (4) inches from each cap sleeve, with the beads being green on the proper right and orange on the proper left, corresponding with the sequin stripes on each shoulder. The dress closes at the center back with a light brown metal and plastic zipper.
    The dress is fully lined in the light brown synthetic knit base fabric. The hem and side slit of the skirt are trimmed in light brown machine-made synthetic lace. There are no labels in the dress.

    Credit Line

    Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Black Fashion Museum founded by Lois K. Alexander-Lane

    Date

    1980s

    Object number

    2007.3.90

    Restrictions & Rights

    No Known Copyright Restrictions
    Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.

    Type

    dresses

    Medium

    synthetic knit fiber, sequins, and beads, with metal plastic zipper

    Dimensions

    H x W x D (flat): 54 3/4 × 23 × 1 in. (139.1 × 58.4 × 2.5 cm)
    H x W x D (on form): 54 3/4 × 20 1/4 × 11 in. (137.8 × 51.4 × 27.9 cm)

    Place made

    New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America

    See more items in

    National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

    Collection title

    Black Fashion Museum Collection

    Classification

    Clothing - Fashion and Historical

    Data Source

    National Museum of African American History and Culture

    Topic

    African American
    Clothing and dress
    Design
    Fashion
    Fashion design

    Metadata Usage

    CC0

    Link to Original Record

    http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd5bd647809-2d5b-4a8a-a537-3e2a7e9d203c

    Record ID

    nmaahc_2007.3.90

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