American Fashions – Summer 1880

Five women are depicted standing on a porch. The woman on the far left wears a white hat with white and pink plumes and blue ribbons, tied beneath her chin. She wears a jacket and skirt of blue trimmed with plaid. Her jacket ends at the hips and has long sleeves and a narrow collar. Down the center and on the cuffs is a white, pink, and black plaid. Small round white buttons fasten down the front, and narrow white ruffles show at the neck and cuffs.

Her narrow skirt is blue with draping across the front, a narrow band of pleating at the hem, and a vertical band of plaid at the side, with a narrow band of bias plaid above the hem at the back of the skirt. She wears white gloves, and carries a furled umbrella. The woman next to her wears her hair up with a black headband. Her dress is white and black with elbow length sleeves and a v-neck. The bodice is white lace with a standing ruffled collar.

The center section of the bodice reaches into a point below her waist, and has a black outline like a “w” at the neck. She wears a black ribbon at her neck with an oval pendant. Her skirt is black with crosswise draping across the front with bows on each row at the front, and three rows of tasseled fringe. She wears elbow length gloves and three bracelets. The bottom of the skirt has a pleated ruffle. The woman next to her wears a black “coal scuttle” bonnet with blue and pink plumes, tied under the chin with wide black ribbons. Her jacket, which ends just below the hips, has long sleeves, double breasted buttons, and pink and blue variegated vertical stripes. The cuffs have turn back detailing with buttons that matches a small hip pocket. The skirt is black with with the overskirt edged with jagged trim open to show a triangle of ruched underskirt.

The woman next to her wears her hair up. Her dress is peach colored with a floral pattern and has a square neck and three-quarter length sleeves. The neckline is edged with a standing white lace ruffle, and she wears a black ribbon choker with a gold oval pendant. At each elbow, there is a peach-colored bow above two rows of lace ruffles. Down the center of the bodice are five wide bands of peach ribbon, over a white ground, ending in a point. On the center front of the skirt are more bands of peach with lace ruffles below each band, and there is a peach ribbon slit and loop at the side of her skirt at the hip.

The hem is edged with a pleated ruffle. She wears white lace mitts that end just below her elbows. She has white stockings, and black heeled shoes with round silver buckles and black rosettes. The woman on the far right wears a tan hat decorated with black lace and ribbons, red roses, and green leaves. Her dress is gray with a bow at her knees and striped ruffles at the front of her skirt. Striped ribbon edges the overskirt. She wears a black mantelet, which has black lace edging and fringe with groups of three bobbles at the neck, sleeves, and hem.

She holds a furled umbrella. Behind the group is a balustrade, and in the distance is a caryatid and trees.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges