Bridal Fashions – 1860

Seven women are depicted, three brides and four bridesmaids. The bride on the left wears her hair up and looped over her ears. Her white lace veil is attached with a coronet of white flowers and ends about a foot above the floor. Her dress has a jewel neck, a white lace collar, with a wide lace bow. She sleeves are long bells and her skirt has three tiers. Each tier is decorated with a large bow on the side and a series of horizontal pintucks.

Her bridesmaid wears her hair up, accented with white flowers. Her dress is brown and off the shoulder with short sleeves. Her collar and the edges of her skirt have pleated ruffles in the same brown. She also wears a gold bracelet and holds a small book. Behind them is another bride and bridesmaid. The bridesmaid wears her hair up, accented with pink flowers. Her dress is lavender and has a decollete neckline and short sleeves. Her bodice is decorated with pleated ruffles. She wears a gold bracelet and white gloves.

The bride wears her hair up, decorated with white flowers and a white lace veil. Her dress is not visible except for the lace collar. On the right are two bridesmaids and a bride. The left bridesmaid wears her hair up with white flowers. Her dress is pink and off the shoulder with a white lace collar and short sleeves, and a white lace top tier on her skirt. She wears a corsage on her bodice. A garland of flowers continue down the sides of her skirt.

She also has ruffles on the bottom of her skirt and wears white gloves and a gold bracelet. The second bridesmaid wears her hair up, decorated with blue beads. Her dress is not visible except for the blue color and the blue wrap, edged in white. The bride sits in a chair. Her hair is up and her white sheer veil descends at the back.

Her dress has a jewel neck and long wide sleeves. She has pleated ruffles across her bust and on her sleeves. Her skirt has three tiers and each tier has pleated ruffles at the bottom. She also wears gold bracelets and white gloves. All the skirts are very wide; it is the height of the crinoline fashion.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges