French Fashions – 1883

Three women are standing in front of a door. The woman on the left is wearing a short-sleeved dress patterned with pink roses. The bodice has short puffed white sleeves, a square neck, a white v shaped center section, and a slightly dropped waist. Two tiers of deep rose velvet draping edged with wide white lace ruffles form the top section of the skirt, with a deep rose bow at the hip. The lower section of the skirt is rose patterned with white lace ruffles, and deep rose pink at the hem.

She wears white above the elbow gloves, gold bracelets on each arm, a pink and white choker necklace with a pendant, and pearl pendant earrings. She reaches for the door handle with her right hand, and looks back at her companions. The middle woman is wearing a high-collared blue striped dress that has three-quarter sleeves. The yoke is of three tiers of white ruffled lace, and two more tiers band the sleeves at the elbow. Both the neck and the sleeves have vivid turquoise blue ribbon, with a bow at the side of the neck. The striped bodice buttons down the center front to the hips, and the fabric is draped at the hips into gathers at each side above an underskirt of six tiers of gathered white lace.

She wears white stockings and turquoise blue high heeled pumps which show beneath her ankle length skirt. The woman on the right is wearing a brown dress with multicolored striped accents. The center front of her bodice, sections of the sleeves, and a sash at the hip, draped at the back with hanging fringed ends are all of red, pale blue, white and yellow stripe. The high collar and sleeve cuffs are ruffled and edged with white lace. Her underskirt is pleated, and the bodice has an asymmetrical curved buttoned closure.

She is wearing a matching brown hat with bright blue plumes, and wears pendant earrings, long yellow gloves, and high buttoned black heeled boots. She rests her right hand on the elbow of the woman in the center of the group. The two women on the right may be younger than the women on the left, as they are portrayed as being half a head shorter.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges