A Group at the Park – Paris 1832

A man, two women, and a girl are gathered in a park in Paris 1832. The individual outfits for this illustration are numbered one through four, from right to left. In outfit number 1, a woman sits on a green wooden bench and wears a long pink dress with a full skirt and snug waistline. The fabric of the dress has a pale pink floral motif within a darker pink lattice pattern. Her large gigot sleeves taper to tightly-fitted cuffs.

Over the shoulders of the dress is a triple-layered fichu with “pinked” or zigzag trimming and a floral motif across the shoulder line. The collar is triple-layered also with zigzag trim and a floral motif. The dress has a sash or belt of the same fabric. She wears a white cap with upstanding pink and white ruffled trim and a pink bow at the back, and pink ribbon ties.

She holds her white straw bonnet in her lap. The wide-brimmed bonnet is trimmed with large white ribbon bows. She wears black and pale blue boots and tan gloves. Next to her, wearing outfit number 2, stands a woman wearing a similar version of her friend’s dress, but in plain white fabric. Her dress has a pale blue sash and a vertical band of zigzag trim down the front with a shorter band of floral trim near it.

She wears the same shoes and gloves but her bonnet is on her head, showing just the pale blue ruffle trim of the cap at the front. She holds a handkerchief and a parasol with a tassel on the handle. Looking up at the woman and wearing outfit number 3, is a young gir. She wears a knee-length white dress over white pantaloons, all trimmed with ruffles, zigzags, and bands.

The waist is snug with a wide blue ribbon sash and her gigot sleeves mirror the women’s sleeves. The girl’s dress has a wide boatneck neckline, with the bodice center in a “v” trimmed with horizontal bands of white on white trim or lace. The pantaloons have two bands of zigzag trim at the cuffs. Her gathered skirt has a split at the center front with two panels of layered ruffle trimming, over a layer trimmed with bands along the front and hem, all trimmed with narrow zigzag trim. The sleeves have two overlapping ruffled flounces at the shoulders.

She wears blue shoes and her hair has face-framing curls. In outfit number 4 is a gentleman who wears tan stirrup pants over black heeled boots with spurs. He wears a black double-breasted snugly fitted tail coat with a tall collar. The coat is cut square at the front, and shows two points of the vest underneath at the waist. His cravat is a multi-colored and spotted.

His hair is short with waves over the ears and he has a mustache and thin goatee. He wears a tall black top hat and he carries a walking stick decorated with a tassel.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges