Walking and Dinner Dresses – Autumn 1822

Two women pose in fashionable dresses for September 1822. The woman on the left is facing forward and wears a white poke bonnet with stripes of blue ribbon on the inside of the brim and one long blue ribbon tied under her chin. The bonnet is also decorated with yellow flowers. A white, reverse collar with a ruffle on the edge is visible against the blue walking dress. The neck, epaulets, cuffs, and hem have scalloped edges with a red dot pattern.

The dots form a twining vine pattern around the neck and long sleeves emerge from under the epaulets and are cinched at the wrist with a red ribbon. A red belt with a gold buckle creates an empire waist. She holds a dark blue handbag and wears yellow gloves and blue shoes, which match her hat and dress. The woman on the right has her back toward the viewer showing the white feathers decorating a small pink hat or cap. She wears a double strand pearl necklace.

The back of her dress has a low, scoop neck trimmed with white ruffles. The rest of her dress is forest green with ruffles across the upper back and two rows of ruffles at the shoulders. Her long sleeves end in a white, ruffled cuff. Down the back of her dress, two scalloped edges run from the center of the high waist diagonally to the side hems. The skirt is hemmed with a wide band of white puffed and gathered fabric interspersed with purple flowers. She wears a pair of white shoes.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges