Carriage and Dinner Dresses – Winter 1831

Two women next to each other, one in a carriage dress, the other in a dinner dress from 1831. The woman on the left wears a blue carriage dress. She has voluminous leg-of-mutton sleeves with white lace cuffs. Her collar is large and white and closes in front with a white bow. Two large epaulettes of blue fabric extend out from under the collar and cover the tops of her shoulders.

A blue belt with a oval gold buckle defines her waist. The overskirt is open in front exposing the white flower patterned underskirt. She wears pale ivory gloves and black slippers that lace up the ankle. She wears a large ivory colored bonnet with large white bows decorating the top and white ribbon ties hanging down to her waist.

To her right there is a wooden footstool with red velvet upholstery with a green bonnet resting on top. The bonnet is decorated with green ribbons, leaves, and yellow wheat stalks. The woman on the right sits on a brown chair wearing a pink dinner dress. Her dress has a wide, white lace collar with two rows of points that covers the tops of her shoulders, and a narrower lace edging around the neckline. The dress has long leg-of-mutton sleeves.

She wears white gloves and the same black lace-up slippers. Her bodice has four angled pleats crossing four more pleats. She wears a pink ribbon at her waist. Her hair is braided and wrapped high on the back of her head in three rows, with curls falling at the back. She has a silver chain fillet with a center red ruby ornament across her forehead. She wears a white fur boa around her shoulders. She looks to the left.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges