Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1946

  • Work on this object began.

2021

2023

2025

  • You found it!

Photograph, Lucille Ball Promoting the Film Lover Come Back

This is a Photograph. It was designed by Travis Banton and Dorothy Wright Liebes. It is dated 1946. Its medium is reproduction. It is a part of the Exhibitions department.


Liebes’s handwoven Chinese Ribbons fabric appeared in a striking swing jacket worn by actress Lucille Ball (1911–1989) in the film Lover Come Back. Designed by Hollywood costumer Travis Banton and paired with a simple black sweater and pants, the jacket’s clean lines maximized the fabric’s complex interplay of bright, velvety, and sparkling stripes.

It is credited Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-6.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318808197/ |title=Photograph, Lucille Ball Promoting the Film Lover Come Back |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=5 May 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>