Two Women and a Girl – 1872

Gilded Age American Day Dresses and Early Bustle Silhouette Engineering

This authentic September 1872 hand-colored lithograph from a New York fashion periodical demonstrates the structural transition toward heavily draped rear volume in American elite daywear. The central figure features a striking white polonaise jacket cut with sharp serrated zigzag borders, layered over a dark pleated walking skirt tied with small satin bows, while the accompanying left model displays a monochrome sage green promenade dress with layered overskirt tiers and a tightly tailored corsage back.

Nineteenth-Century Girls Fashion and Period Drawing Room Decor

The third figure on the right showcases youth apparel from the Reconstruction Era, wearing a rich magenta silk frock over a pleated cream under-skirt, completed with clean white stockings and dark leather buttoned boots. Arranged inside a domestic interior atop an opulent crimson scroll-patterned carpet near a plush yellow velvet sofa, this archival print provides exceptional primary source data for historical pattern makers investigating mature Victorian garment layering and girls clothing history.