Fashions and Bonnets – Summer 1837

The woman on the left wears a white, floral patterned dress with long, fitted sleeves, bell-shaped skirts, and a standing lace collar. Her skirt has two tiers, each trimmed with a wide lace flounce. She wears a long, yellow shawl edged with white lace ruffles and carries a white, lace-edged handkerchief. Her gloves, shoes, and stockings are white, and she wears a yellow poke bonnet trimmed with white flowers. The woman on the right wears a blue, patterned dress with full skirts and a lace-edged sweetheart neckline. She has a ruff of blue ribbon in her hair and is wearing white gloves and black shoes with blue stockings.

The woman carries a large, partially open fan in her right hand and wears a structured, cape-like white shawl, or capote, with long ends. The shawl is trimmed with two flounces and has an extra, sleeve-like portion that covers the arms. A third woman is pictured above the other two. She wears a white dress with a low, square neckline, full skirts, and a light purple sash tied in a bow. The bodice is decorated to look like a pinafore with two,wide purple ribbons running over the shoulders to the waist.

The ribbons are trimmed with white, lacy flounces that lie over the shoulders. The sleeves have lacy flounces at the upper arm and elbow, lacy cuffs, and a band of light purple ribbon at the elbow. The woman wears white gloves, a short, simple necklace, and a pale yellow bonnet with a deep, curving, upturned brim. The bonnet is trimmed with white flowers, a bow at the chin, and several large white plumes. The woman holds a white parasol and only her upper half is shown.

A white poke bonnet trimmed with rows of ruffles and a white bow is in the upper left of the image. Below it is a close-fitting, lacy, white cap decorated with blue ribbons. In the upper right of the image is a pink bonnet with a large, deep, upturned brim. The bonnet is trimmed with ruffles and pink roses and ties at the chin. Below the bonnet is a lacy white mobcap which is edged with lace.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges