American Fashions – Autumn 1888

Five women are standing out of doors. Behind them are trees and houses. The woman on the left is wearing a deep green velvet jacket over a yellow dress. The jacket has long straight sleeves with a slight fullness at the shoulder. The jacket has cross over lapels with notched details and rosette trimming. The vest or blouse under the jacket is also deep green with braid trim details at the center front, a high standing collar, and a v point at the hem. Her yellow underskirt has a vertical pattern of alternating gray green stripes and spots, and her plain yellow overskirt is draped up at the sides.

Her hat is deep green with a red bird decoration, and she holds a closed green parasol. The second woman from the left is wearing a high-collared indigo dress with red stripes. The dress has a high standing collar of dark blue, bias-cut sleeves with dark blue cuffs, and a v waistline. The sleeves are narrow with a slight fullness at the shoulders, and end just above the wrist. Her underskirt is a vivid deep blue with cross draping, and matching diagonal draping in the same blue forms the front of her blouse. Her hat is deep blue velvet, adorned with a red plume and a pleated decoration of the same blue as the underskirt. She wears pearl earrings. The woman in the center is wearing a white dress with diagonal red and deep blue stripes as the underskirt, lapels, cuffs, and collar. She has a white shawl or wrap around her shoulders that has a trim of blue bobbles and elaborate tassels on the ends that hang down in front. She wears tan gloves, and a white flat-brimmed hat with red ribbon around the crown and red plumes.

The woman second from the right is wearing a grey dress in a military style. The vest has a high standing collar decorated with braid and buttons down each side, ending in a shallow double v at the waist. The jacket lapels are narrow, as are the sleeves which end with yellow cuffs with three buttons. The skirt has diagonal draping across the front, with at least one yellow turn back at the side, also decorated with a row of buttons. A narrow section of yellow underskirt shows at the center front.

Her gray hat has a helmet shape with a point at the front and a narrow brim. It is decorated with a yellow bird, a yellow plume, and gray ribbon. She wears yellow gloves, and holds a furled black umbrella. The woman on the far right is wearing an indigo dress with a pink and indigo striped collar, lapels, cuffs and underskirt. Her jacket has a double breasted three button front closure. Her skirt is draped diagonally across the front to her hip, showing the striped facing, with blue velvet ribbons at the hip.

She wears a gold crescent brooch at her collar, earrings, yellow gloves, and a blue velvet hat trimmed with yellow plumes and blue ribbon.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges