American Fashions – Summer 1881

Five women and a little boy are depicted playing a game of croquet. The woman on the far left wears a straw hat with yellow ribbon and a red ornament. Her dress is yellow with a square neck and long narrow sleeves. Under her square neck are white ruffles. Down the center of her dress and at her cuffs are decorative bands of red, white, and yellow beads. The dress is edged in red on the bodice and the ruffles of the two skirt tiers. She wears a black choker with a gold pendant, and holds a closed red parasol in her right hand. Behind her, a little boy wears a flat straw hat with a black ribbon.

His black shirt has a sailor collar. He wears black short pants with red stockings and black boots. The woman next to him wears a white hat with white plumes and a blue bow. Her dress is white with blue detailing. She has a white jacket with a cut-away hip length hem with blue collar, lapels, and trim at the hem and cuffs, with blue bows at the neck and cuffs. Three buttons fasten the jacket at the waist. Her blouse is white and ruffled at the front and cuffs. The overskirt is white with a blue bow on the skirt and an asymmetrical pointed hem. The underskirt is pleated and white with a blue stripe.

She holds a croquet mallet in her right hand. The woman in the center wears a straw hat with yellow and white plumes and red edging. Her jacket is yellow with a rectangular neck and long sleeves. It is double breasted and she wears a red flower at her breast. Along the neck, cuffs, and hem of the jacket is a band of yellow floral patterned brocade. The neck and cuffs also have a band of yellow ruffles, and bows adorn the cuffs and the center front of the jacket hem. The skirt is in two tiers edged with brocade, and draped to the back. The underskirt has a band of ruching down the center front ending in a bow at the hem. The hem has two rows of ruffles. She wears a black choker with a gold pendant and holds a croquet mallet in her hands.

The woman next to her wears a yellow hat with gray ribbon, white plumes, and red flowers. Her jacket is long sleeved and white and her skirt is black. The jacket has a standing collar, tied with a black tasseled tie and trimmed with black lace on the bodice, cuffs, and hip length hem. She wears a red rose at her bodice, which appears to be laced up the center front. The jacket has rows of black bows in the back and font at the hem. The skirt has horizontal pleating below the jacket, with draping at the back and vertical pleating at the hem. She wears pendant earrings and tan gloves and holds a furled black umbrella in her right hand. The last woman stands in profile and wears a gray picture hat with black and tan plumes.

Her dress is black with white accents, with a high collar and three-quarter length sleeves. At the collar, bodice, cuffs, and on the skirt are bands of white lace. The dress is black on black floral pattern. The jacket and skirt are ornamented with black ruching and bows. The skirt is draped asymmetrically from the bodice, which ends in a point at the hip. She wears pendant earrings, tan gloves, and a bracelet on each arm, and holds her croquet mallet. All of the women wear their hair with curled bangs. A number of croquet hoops and red, yellow, or striped balls are around their feet on the grass.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges