Lavender cocktail dress and crushed velvet coat by Tracy Reese

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.

Lavender cocktail dress (.1) and crushed velvet coat (.2) by Tracy Reese. Both garments are in the style of silhouettes popular in 1920s flapper culture. The dress (.1) is sleeveless with a scooped neckline, a dropped waist, and a ruffled mini skirt. It is made from lavender silk chiffon and is heavily embellished with copper colored sequins, brass colored seed beads, and purple and metallic gold woven tape. Lines of these embellishment materials are sewn around the neck opening and on the straps, in three (3) columns on the front bodice and three (3) columns on the back bodice, and in rows around the ruffled skirt. The hemline of the skirt includes one of the embellished rows. In between the rows on the skirt there is a repeating design of half-ovals using these materials, with the upper one facing downward and the lower one facing upward.

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