Paris Fashions – 1873

Two women are walking on a porch decorated with columns and ivy. The woman on the left wears a white hat trimmed with black, with a turquoise veil and red and blue plumes. Her dress is olive green with a matching, long sleeved, hip-length jacket, with masculine details and wide cuffs turned back with buttons, and buttons at the back waist. Her skirt is draped up in the back in the fashionable bustled silhouette, and has a wide flounce with a ruched band at the the hem. The overskirt ends in two very long triangular points visible on the left side. She carries in her left hand what appears to a red handbag with tan straps, but which is probably a rolled cushion or blanket carried by a strap.

The woman on the right wears a broad-brimmed straw hat with a turned up brim, decorated with blue ribbon, blue plumes, and pink flowers. Her dress is white and blue with a high collar and long sleeves. The bodice is light blue with a square neck and short sleeves. It is covered with a sheer white striped elbow length layer, with a standing ruffled collar. The sleeves are edged with blue double ruffles with jagged edges layered over a white ruffle. The same blue double jagged edged ruffle trims the elaborately draped skirt at the back. The blue underskirt has five horizontal rows of white ruching across the front, the last at the hem continuing around the back into a small train. She carries a black fan in her right hand.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges