Fashions – Winter 1840

The top row of figures shows three women. The woman on the left wears a fur-edged purple coat over a long sleeved white dress with a lace collar. Her green bonnet ties under the chin and is trimmed with pink flowers and a long ruffled white plume. She wears white gloves and holds a lace-edged handkerchief. The central woman wears a pale periwinkle off-the-shoulder dress with a ruched neck, and white ruffled flounces at the shoulders and elbows of the short sleeves.

A brooch is pinned to the center of the bodice, and the woman wears short ruffled white gloves, and a lacy white bonnet that sits back on her head, The bonnet is trimmed with lace-edged lappets and pink flowers. The woman on the right wears a pale purple dress with long, fitted sleeves, full skirts, and buttoned cuffs. The bodice is designed like a jacket with narrow shawl lapels, three buttons down the front, and buttons at the shoulders. Underneath the dress, she wears a shirtwaist with a rounded collar and a line of buttons down the front. A small checked white kerchief ties around her neck. Her gloves are white, and she wears a pale blue bonnet with a deep brim decorated with pink and white flowers.

The lower row of figures begins with an image of a lacy ruffled white cap trimmed with a pale pink ribbon. To the right is a woman who wears a blue dress with a low neck, buttoned cuffs, and full skirts with a band of decoration at the knee and another band at the hem. The sleeves are fitted until just above the elbow, then are full to the cuffs. The woman wears white gloves, black shoes with white stockings, and a short lacy or net shawl hemmed with a white ruffle. Her white bonnet ties under the chin with yellow-edged white ribbon, and is decorated with white ruffles and yellow ribbon.

The final woman wears a dark purple dress with a deep shawl collar, a sash, long sleeves with elbow puffs and white cuffs, and full skirts trimmed with five dark bands. Under her dress, the woman wears a white blouse with a scooped neck trimmed with a ruffle of white lace, and she wears a large gold oval brooch at the center. She wears black shoes with white stockings, white gloves, and a dark green bonnet adorned with sprays of pink flowers. To the right of the woman is a small ruffled white cap trimmed with lace and pale blue ribbon. The gloves of the woman in the upper left have been roughly colored grey with pencil.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges