Today, if you search Amazon for “I Love Lucy Costume” you will receive seven pages of results. Most of the options are nearly identical: a polka dot, 1950’s shirtdress with a circle skirt underneath a white apron and a curly, red wig. (Red wig sold separately, of course.)

This version of Lucy, the zany housewife version, is universally recognized. She is silly, and adventurous, and always, always funny. She is Lucille Ball’s masterpiece, but she isn’t Lucille Ball.

Lucille Ball, like all of us, isn’t so easy to pin down. She’s not an iconic outfit, she wasn’t a housewife, and she was never just one thing. She spent much of her life boxed in as Lucy when, in reality, she was breaking mold after mold for the women who followed her.

Lucille’s story

In 1974, TV Guide reported that Lucille had, “a face seen by more people, more often, than the face of any human being who ever lived." This is more impressive when it’s taken into account that she didn’t reach widespread success until she was 40.