Boots worn on Soul Train by dancer Johnette "Suki" Dodson

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

These hand-painted boots were worn as part of a costume along with a hand-decorated bra top and customized blue jeans. These boots are women’s size 7 1/2 mid-calf boots, with a side-zip closure on the inside leg and platform soles with 3 inch heels. The upper foot and legs of the boots are made of a black synthetic fabric, overpainted with orange, red, blue, and yellow neon paint, in panels and swirls that completely cover the base fabric and parts of the bottoms of the soles. The painted design is not symmetrical from one boot to the other. The boot soles are made of hard plastic and are covered in black fabric. The soles were customized using applied rubber decorations to create small repeating 3-dimensional circles. The bottoms of the soles are covered in a black matte thin rubber non-slip material that is worn off on the edges.

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