French Girl With a Jump Rope – 1913

Summer at the seashore is the setting for this view of a French fashion suitable for girls aged six to eight years old. Shown in mid-air while jumping rope is a girl dressed in a white dress with ruffles and daisies. She wears a knee-length, empire-waist white dress in two layers. The underdress has a hem edged with a softly pleated ruffle with an insertion of narrow yellow ribbon and a row of small white and yellow daisies at the top of the ruffle. The overdress has gathers and is a bit shorter, opening in a “v” at the front.

The bodice has two ruffled layers edged with insertions of narrow yellow ribbon which open in a v to the waist, and form short ruffled sleeves. The waist is cinched with an rose pink ribbon sash tied into a bow at the front, with long ends flying as she jumps. Two daisies are tucked into the bow. She wears white socks and white strapped shoes accessorized with small yellow and white daisies. To complete the outfit she wears white gloves and a white bead necklace.

Her short feathery dark hair is covered with a wide-brimmed straw hat trimmed with a row of yellow daisies around the brim. It is tied with a rose pink ribbon. The red, yellow, and blue handles of the jump-rope match the stripes of the bucket on the ground, and there is a shovel with a striped handle nearby. Stylized sea shells, sand, and pebbles provide the ground line. This illustration belongs to a series of stylized drawings signed by “A. Vallée,” entitled Costumes Parisiens for the Journal des dames.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges