Blue Velvet became evocative of simmering slow dancing in the shadows of the mind for an entire generation. 

Simple lined, crushed blue velvet robe with fitted point sleeves, designed by Costume Designer/ Production Designer Patricia Norris (1932 - 2015), for the character Dorothy Vallens, played by Isabella Rossellini; David Lynch’s 1986 cult classic Blue Velvet. 

1985 - Fabric shipped from NYC to North Carolina Film Studios, Wilmington, NC. This robe and its double were constructed in the studio costume shop. 

1986 - Lynch insisted on matching the exact color for a detail on another project. Hence the swatch removed from the back bottom of the robe. 

1989 - Rescued from dumpster. 

2014 - Brief exhibition, at Dennis Hopper’s former duplex in Wilmington. Loaned to North Carolina Museum of History Raleigh. Now Starring North Carolina 

2016 - Loaned to Cape Fear Museum of History and Science, Wilmington, NC - Starring Cape Fear.

2018—Donated to Cape Fear Museum.

-Jayme Bednarczyk, Wilmington, NC