Blue fitted dress with buttons designed by Patrick Kelly

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.

A blue fitted dress with buttons designed by Patrick Kelly for his Fall/Winter 1986 collection. The dress is made of blue knitted synthetic blend fabric. It has long sleeves that taper in slightly and a round neckline with a half inch wide bias-cut band. Multicolored buttons are sewn along the bottom front half of the dress. The buttons are grouped into ten diagonal rows that all start at a semicircle on the proper right side of the dress. The rows of buttons expand further apart from one another as they grow longer. The number of buttons used for each row increases towards the bottom of the dress. The dress has a low open back. Sholder pads made of nonwoven padding and blue synthetic fabric are sewn on each side. The edges of the pads are finished with machine overlock stitching.

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