Ball Dresses – 1858

Five women and a little girl are depicted just outside a ballroom. The woman on the far left wears her hair half up with falling ringlets and a crown of white flowers. Her blue dress is off the shoulder with short sleeves and a pointed waistline. There are two lines of ruffles that begin at her shoulders then join at her waist then spread apart again, creating an hourglass shape.

There are flowers around her neckline and flowers outlining each of the three tiers in her skirt. Under the flowers is green fringe. The very bottom of her skirt has three rows of ruffles. Her accessories include white gloves, bracelets on each arm, two pearl necklaces, a white handkerchief in her right hand and a bouquet of flowers in her left. The little girl in front of her wears her hair up and a pink dress. The dress has short sleeves, a scoop neck and ends just at the knee.

She wears gray boots and carries a bow and arrow. The woman behind her wears a purple turban or wreath of matching flowers and ribbon, with a dangling tasseled end brushing her shoulder. Her dress is purple satin with short sleeves and a belt around her waist. The top has a lace fichu neck, with crossed ends reaching her waist, of ruffled white lace with a v-neck and wide sleeves trimmed with more ruffled lace. Her accessories include a bead necklace and gold bracelet. The woman in the middle is sitting in a chair. Her hair is done up and she wears a gray dress. Her dress has a wide square neck with short sleeves, and rows of stripes on the bodice and skirt. There are two bows at her waist, and a band of diagonal trimmed stripes at the hem. Her accessories include three pearl necklaces, of graduated lengths, white gloves, a fan, and a handkerchief.

The woman on the right wears her hair up, decorated with white daisies. Her green dress has a wide scoop neck, short puffy sleeves, and a four tiered skirt. She has white daisies running from her waist down the side of her skirt. She also has vertical lines of white ruffles on her bodice and on the bottom tiers of her skirt, which overlap to create a pattern. Her accessories include white gloves, a gold bracelet, a fan, and a handkerchief.

The woman on the far right wears her hair up with a wreath of golden oak leaves. Her white dress is off the shoulder, with short bell sleeves, a pointed waistline, and a three tiered skirt. She has a gathering of golden leaves at her bust and along the edge of the first tier on her skirt. She also has white and pale green ruffles along the edges of her sleeves, neck, and each tier of her skirt. Her accessories include two pearl necklaces, white gloves, a gold bracelet and a white bracelet, and a bouquet of pink flowers.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges