Paris Fashions – 1872

Two women and a young girl are at the beach, near a bathing house. The woman on the left wears a small tan hat decorated with red flowers, green leaves and black ribbon. Her dress is gray with long bell sleeves edged in gray pleats and white lace . All the edges are trimmed with pleats overlaid with white zigzag lace; the neck, the bodice front, the sleeves, the hem, and oval lappets at the side of the skirt, and also at the back of the skirt. She wears a white blouse with a v neck and buttons down the front. She wears a black choker with a gold pendant and carries a red fan and a gold tasseled reticule.

The young girl in the middle sits, her hair worn loose with a light blue ribbon. She wears a navy bathing dress edged with yellow stripes. Her dress has short sleeves, a jewel neck, and yellow buttons along the right side. She wears a light blue sash tied around her waist and matching lace up slippers with rosettes. The woman on the right wears a small straw hat with black edging, decorated with red and black plumes. Her dress is white with red accents. Her long bell sleeves are edged with scalloped white lace ruffles At the hem of the skirt is a wide band of white pleats.

The bodice and sleeves of the dress have sections of red, and the lapels of the bodice are red. The rest of the gown is white, with a pattern of floral motifs in red. Two upper tiers of the skirt rise to a point at the center front, and are edged in red with white scalloped lace, as are the lapels. The skirt is arranged in draping at the back. The bodice has a high neck and buttons down the front. She wears red pendant earrings and rests a ruffled gold parasol topped with a bow on the ground with her left hand.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges