French Fashions – 1846

Two women stand in an interior wearing Parisian fashion. The woman on the left wears a white bonnet, lined with pink and tied with a pink bow. Two white feathers with pink tips cascade down the side of the bonnet. A large pale yellow shawl with wide lace edging is wrapped around her shoulders and fastened in the center of her bodice with a round brooch. The visible parts of her dress are the long, full skirt and the ends of the sleeves. Both are a bold cobalt blue brocade, with white lace trim at the cuffs. She holds a white handkerchief in her light blue gloved hands. Her head is turned to the right and she looks at herself in a mirror.

The woman on the right is adorned in a light green bonnet with a pink rose and green striped ribbons for decoration. A collared white blouse is visible underneath her pink checkered gown. The dress is embellished with small pink ribbon rosettes on each shoulder, on the hems of the sleeve, and down the front of the skirt. A cream colored shawl with wide bands of dark and light green stripes and white fringe is wrapped around her shoulders. She wears a pair of yellow gloves. A large bureau stands in the left side of the frame with two small perfume bottles resting on its counter.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges