English Fashions – Winter 1866

Four women and a little boy are depicted in a parlor. The woman on the far left wears her hair adorned with pearls. She wears pendant pearl earrings and white gloves. Her dress is blue and white with a military influence. The dress has a white lace collar with pointed ends, buttons down the center front of the bodice, and has long narrow sleeves.

At the top of her sleeves, pleated white ruffles with gold tassels resemble the epaulets of military uniforms. Her scalloped solid blue overskirt ends about a foot off the ground with white fringe and gold tassels at each scallop. The underskirt is white and blue striped. The woman to her right wears her hair accented with a strand of pearls across her head and hanging down onto her neck, and a white flower. Her dress is yellow, off the shoulder, and has short sleeves.

Edging the neckline, the sleeves, and hem are white ruffles. Ruffles also line sections of the skirt from waist to hem. Her accessories include pearl earrings, gold bracelets, white gloves, and a bouquet of flowers. The boy at her feet sits on the carpet and plays with three dolls, on a low platform that might be a writing surface. He wears a suit with a white shirt, black vest, black jacket and black knickers. He has a black bow tie and black boots.

The woman in the back wears her hair back with a purple ribbon. Her dress is purple with a long sleeved jacket with a peplum and long sleeves. On the hem of the jacket and skirt are a row of pleats, with a pattern of graduated black stripes with buttons at the tops. Her accessories include pearl earrings, white gloves, and a white fan in her left hand. The woman on the far right wears her hair back in a classical style with yellow ribbon bands.

Her dress is a light turquoise with an off the shoulder neck, short sleeves, and a belted waist. Her dress is decorated with two rows of white rosettes down the skirt, and two at the tops of the sleeves. Across the skirt front between the rosettes are rows of white ribbon.

The bodice has a wide v neck, with white gathering between, and ribbon edging the neck. Her accessories include a white choker, gold bracelets, white gloves and a white fan in her right hand.
All the skirts are very wide; it is the height of the crinoline fashion.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges