Family Party France – Winter 1903

A mother and eight children display their Parisian fashions for December, 1903, while they gather for a party. The figure of the mother divides the composition in half with four younger children on her right and four adolescents on her left. The older girl in blue on the right greets three newcomers to the party who still wear their coats for cold weather.

Beginning on the left, the first boy wears a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit of black velvet knee breeches and a hip-length black velvet jacket over a white shirt and waistcoat. The shirt has a white lace ruffled collar, and the waistcoat buttons down the center front. The boy wears black stockings, black shoes, and has shoulder length blond hair. The next girl wears a red knee length dress with a pleated skirt and a loose bloused bodice that is cinched at the waist with a sash.

Across the shoulders is a V-shaped yoke with alternating patterns of dots and cross-hatching which might be embroidery or trim. The edge of the yoke is trimmed with fringe. The sleeves are full and are bloused into snug cuffs which are trimmed or embroidered like to yoke. A white or pink blouse with a jewel neckline and vertical trimming fills the v-shaped yoke neckline, and has a red bow, or band collar at the neck. She wears red stockings, black laced shoes, and has long hair with bangs.

The boy third from the left is dressed in a gray Knickerbocker suit, a shirt with a stiff collar, a red tie, and a black double breasted checkered waistcoat. His jacket has notched lapels and a side breast pocket. His breeches are buttoned just below the knee and he wears black stockings and black buttoned boots. His hair is cut short and parted on the side.

The young girl standing next to her mother wears a pale blue dress. The bodice is loose with vertical stitching and pleats that alternate, and is cinched at the waist to create a bloused look. The skirt is sharply pleated and each pleat has a decoratively stitched section at the center down from the waist. The sleeves are full with fitted cuffs, and the v-shape yoke extends over her shoulders and forms a point at the center front. The yoke is trimmed with bands of alternating trim and stitching. She wears light blue stockings, slip-on black shoes, and her hair is worn long and curled with bangs.

The mother in the center wears a cream-colored or pale yellow dress with dark green accents. The bodice has a v-neckline and panels that extend over the shoulders and taper to a “v” at the waist. The edges of the bodice are trimmed with a band of lace or embroidery, two repeats of narrow tucks, and small bobble fringe. The long sleeves have a second bell-shaped sleeve over them; the bell sleeve has stitched pleats that release at the elbow. The narrow fitted undersleeves have cuffs of dark green.

At the v neckline is a matching dark green collar, and the belt is also dark green. Below the v neck the blouse is the same pale cream or yellow with a high collar, with vertical lines of lace and narrow tucks. At the center front of the green collar is a gold fastening that may be a frog or decorative metal fastener or brooch. At the center front more bobbles and two knots or rosettes trim the front to the waist. The skirt is long and flared with a v-shaped yoke at the hips that ends in a point at the center front. The skirt panels release into soft pleats at knee level and the hem has three bands of horizontal top-stitched tucks.

Standing next to the mother is an adolescent girl in a dark blue dress. Her calf-length dress has a blue and white lace flounce around the yoke and drop-shoulder full blouson sleeves, and cuffs with matching lace. Small soft tucks form the skirt at the waist and also the lower section of the sleeves, below a upper cap. A wide blue sash is tied at her waist with bows at the back, and three blue horizontal ribbon bands or tucks trim the hem of the dress. The high collar of her blouse is light blue lace and she wears a light blue ribbon in her hair, tied at the neck.

Her stockings are black and she wears black shoes with small heels. She is greeting three friends who have just joined the party. The first girl wears a light brown calf-length overcoat with a sort of Slavic or eastern European styling. It seem as to be of short fur. It has a short cape collar over the shoulders with fringe trimming the edge. The cuffs and collar are embroidered with geometric designs and there is a double row of linked ties down the front.

The girl wears black stockings, black buttoned boots, white gloves, and a wide, soft, light brown hat trimmed with a white ostrich-feather. She also carries a black cane or tightly furled umbrella. The second girl from the right wears a navy blue calf-length overcoat with a shoulder cape. It has a double row of black buttons and the edges are trimmed with two rows of narrow braid. The cuffs and standing collar are embroidered with colored geometric designs.

Her brown hair is left long and her bangs are curled. She wears black stockings, and black buttoned boots. She wears white gloves and a wide brimmed straw hat trimmed with light blue ruffles and ostrich feathers. Next to her is a boy wearing a camel overcoat with notched lapels and side slit pockets. The cuffs of the sleeves are turned back and banded with top-stitching or narrow braid. The yoke of the coat has more stitching detail in a double curve. He wears a white stiff-collared shirt and tie, brown gloves, and carries a black felt, short-crowned hat.

He wears black stockings, black buttoned boots. His hair is cut short. The background of the home’s inmterior is lightly sketched in the back, and shows draperies and a curved top bureau with a mirror, in Art Nouveau style.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges