Fashions – Spring 1843

Five women are depicted. The woman on the top left faces away, wearing a green bonnet with matching ribbon and plumes. Her white dress is covered in pink and green plaid and she wears a blue shawl with zigzag trim. She holds a white ruffle-edged handkerchief. The top middle woman wears a yellow ruched bonnet with ribbons and bows and a white dress covered with a dark purple jacket or shawl edged with ruffles and braid or tassel trim.

She too carries a ruffled white handkerchief. The woman at the top right wears a pink bonnet with a plume, trimmed with lace inside the brim. Her dress is green with a v-neck edged with ruching and ruffles. She wears an oval black brooch. The woman at the bottom left wears a white bonnet with feathers, and a pink and purple striped dress. Her gown has decorative lacing across the bodice, with buttons at each point, and two rows of small triangles with three buttons each down the skirt.

The bottom right woman wears a blue bonnet with multiple rows of ruching, and fabric and flower trimmings. Her dress is yellow, with grey pinstripes and bias details, and trimmed with what appear to be a set of matching brooches with three pendant beads on each. She carries a purple shawl with a fringed hem.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges