Fashions – Spring 1831

Four women wear different dresses from 1831. The woman on the left wears a white court dress with a blue train. The dress has short puffed sleeves and an ornately jeweled bodice. Lace edges the low neck and two tiers of lace form the upper sleeves. The hem of her dress and the border of the train are decorated with gold floral patterns. She wears white shoes, white gloves, and carries a white fan in her left hand.

She wears a silver bracelet on her right wrist, and a silver necklace and earrings. She wears a silver hair ornament with white and blue feathers with a long white and blue veil attached. The woman next to her also wears a pink court dress with a red train. The upper bodice has wrapped ribbon details. The sleeves have three tiers of ribbon edged ruffles and ribbon trimmed short, puffed sleeves. She wears a jeweled floral belt. The skirt is striped and decorated with white floral lace in a zigzag pattern. She wears white shoes, white gloves, and a silver bracelet on each wrist.

She carries a fan in her right hand and wears an ornate silver necklace and a pair of earrings. She wears a silver hair ornament with white feathers and a white veil hanging down in back. The third woman wears a green walking dress with a double, white, pleated, ruff collar that come to wide points. The black epaulets are very wide, reaching almost to her elbows in a double layer, and are tucked under her belt. The green dress has large leg-of-mutton sleeves.

She wears black walking boots, white gloves, and carries a white handkerchief in her right hand. He bonnet is white with yellow and white ribbon cockades inside the brim and at the crown, and yellow ribbons tied beneath her chin. The fourth woman wears a carriage dress. Her dress is blue with long and wide leg-of-mutton sleeves.

She wears a white layered lace ruff around her neck. White lace edges her collar and two rows run from the waist over the shoulders. She wears a blue buckled belt and the front of her dress is decorated with shapes and bows arranged in two columns running parallel down the front of her dress.

She wears black shoes, yellow gloves, and holds a handkerchief in her left hand. She wears a large white bonnet with white ribbons, lace, and pink flowers decorating the top and inside of the bonnet. A white ruffle, perhaps a cap, frames her face, and white ribbons tie under her chin in a bow.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges