Fashions and Bonnets – Winter 1839

The woman on the left wears a blue dress with buttons down the bodice, a belt, long sleeves which puff between the elbow and the cuff, and full, wrapped skirts. Her cuffs are white, and the dress has wide dark blue velvet lapels like those of a jacket. A white lace collar is open over the velvet lapels, and the woman wears a square-necked, lace-edged chemise under her dress. Her dotted white bonnet is trimmed with lace, white bows, and pink flowers, and she wears white stockings, black shoes, and off-white gloves. She holds a letter or small booklet of some kind.

The woman on the right wears a green dress with long sleeves and three flounces at the hem. Over her dress she wears a dark, floor-length coat which has a tasseled, cord belt and a brooch at the neck. The coat is trimmed with dark braid, has very wide, cape-like sleeves, and is lined in soft, pale purple.

The woman wears dark-toed boots and off-white gloves. Her round, yellow bonnet is trimmed with lace ruffles and a pink flower. The upper-half of a third woman is drawn above the other two. She wears a dusty rose dress with a belt, full skirts, and a vee-neck edged in panels of white lace. Her sleeves have three bands of ruching at the upper arm, then are full down to the high, pinked, white cuffs. A brooch is pinned to her bodice, and she wears white gloves and a delicate filet in her hair. Her pale blue bonnet ties under the chin and is decorated with pink roses.

In the upper left of the image is a pale pink bonnet trimmed with lace ruffles and sprays of pink flowers. Below it is a close-fitting white cap with a rear ruffle of white lace and lace and pink rosebuds below each ear. A blue-green bonnet trimmed with white ruffles and a spray of white flowers is in the upper right, while a small, white, cap decorated with garlands of tiny blue flowers is shown below.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges