French Fashions – 1854

Two women are standing in a parlor. The woman on the left wears a white point lace trimmed bonnet with ruffles and pink flowers inside the brim. Her dress is lavender, with long bell sleeves and a jewel neckline. There are two rows of puffed tassel trimmed bows down each side of the dress, from the shoulders to the hem. The sleeves and the skirt also have multiple layers, each gathered and trimmed with a very narrow ruching, and with a bow on each layer. She has a small white lace collar and two wide lace ruffles on each sleeve below the lavender layers. She is wearing bracelets on each wrist.

The woman on the right gestures towards an object in an open box on the table next to her. She wears a white lace bonnet with pink ribbons that fall loose down her back. Her dress is dark green with long bell sleeves and a jewel neckline. The jacket has horizontal frogs across the bodice. Her skirt and bodice are of dark green brocade with dark green scalloped edged velvet on the bodice front, sleeves, and hem of the jacket, and two rows down the front of the skirt, all trimmed with rosettes at each scallop. Her collar is white lace, and wide lace ruffles form the undersleeves.

She wears a cameo at the front of her collar. The parlor has draperies with curtain ties, and the table has a striped pink blue and yellow fringed cloth, and a large vase of pink and white roses. The parlor carpet is pale yellow or cream with a pattern of twining foliage and large pink flowers.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges