Paris Fashions – Autumn 1882

Five women are depicted in a salon. The woman on the far left wears a straw hat trimmed with purple and yellow plumes. Her dress is purple with a high collar and long sleeves. Her bodice has buttons down the center front and ends in a point below her waist. The skirt has bands of ruching and a draped back of purple velvet.

The woman next to her wears her hair dressed back, with curled bangs, adorned with small yellow flowers. There are more flowers as a corsage on her right shoulder. Her light blue dress has a v-neck and three-quarter length sleeves. Soft draping crosses over the front of the bodice, and continues on the overskirt. A matching blue belt cinches her waist, and white ruffles edge the neck and sleeves. Her underskirt is blue with vertical stripes and a moire pattern, and ruffles and pleats at the hem.

She wears a gold bracelet on each arm. The woman next to her wears her hair up with red flowers adorning the back. Her dress is dark blue with a v-neck and three-quarter length sleeves. The lapels are gold, edged with wide ruffles of gold lace which continue down the center of her bodice, and around the hem which reaches below her hips.

The lower section of the bodice has ruching and draping around the hips. She wears a red rose at the center of the neck. White lace ruffles edge the cuffs and neck. The skirt has dark blue and gold vertical stripes with a row of gold bows just below knee length, and ruffles at the hem. She wears pearl drop earrings, a pearl necklace, white gloves, and a gold bracelet, and carries a gold and red fan in her right hand. The woman next to her wears her hair up with white flowers.

Her purple dress has a v-neck and three-quarter length sleeves. Her bodice is of dotted purple fabric, ends with a point below her waist, buttons down the center front, and has ruching and ruffles on the collar and cuffs. The lower section of the bodice is ruched and has asymmetrical draping.

Her skirt has multiple tiers of ruffles. Her accessories include pendant earrings, a pendant or cameo necklace on a ribbon, a gold bangle bracelet on each arm, and she carries a white and green fan in her left hand. The woman on the far right wears a straw hat with blue, yellow and red plumes. Her dress is pale yellow with a high collar and long sleeves.

Tied around her shoulders is a blue, yellow, and red striped shawl. The bodice has a narrow standing collar edged with white lace, white at the cuffs, buttons down the center front with draping around the hips. Her skirt has three pleated tiers with each hem banded with narrow sections of matching red, blue, and yellow stripes. She carries a long-handled dark gray furled umbrella or parasol in her left hand.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges