Paris Fashions – 1831

Two women wearing Parisian dresses from 1831. The woman on the left wears a red velvet overdress in a tunic style over a white satin dress decorated with a band of diagonal ribbons and white bows at the hem. The bodice is pleated at the top and gathered in the center with a gold diamond shaped brooch with three pearls hanging from it. She wears a white ribbon at her waist. White bows decorate her shoulders. The red decorative sleeves of the tunic cover most of the white puff sleeves of the satin dress. She wears white gloves, white ballet slippers, and holds a red fan. A white bow and a very small bouquet of red and gold thin leaves decorates the top of the slit in the skirt of her dress. She wears a sapphire and ruby gold chain necklace and gold hanging earrings. Her hair is in a bun with loops and bunches of side curls with a gold chain hair ornament that has a central ruby pendant with three hanging pearls and two sapphires on either side of it. Placed in her ornate bun are plumes of white feathers. The woman on the right wears the same dress in blue velvet. She shows the view of the dress from the back. The white ribbon at her waist ties in a bow at the back. She wears a gold chain necklace and gold hanging earrings. Her hair is decorated in the same fashion.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges