Paris Fashions – Winter 1846

Two women in a parlor. The woman on the left is seated in an ornate wooden chair with deep red upholstery. She wears a lace cap with maroon bows over her ringlets. Around her shoulders is a long white shawl with intricate embroidery and fringed hems. Her dress is green and pink striped with a wide, off the shoulder, folded collar. The collar is trimmed with maroon ruffles and at the center is a large maroon bow.

Down either side of the front of the skirt are bows in the same color, which start out small at the top and get larger towards the bottom. She is adorned with three gold bracelets and wears short white gloves. She rests her right hand on a white handkerchief lying on a table covered with a purple cloth. The woman on the right has three pink roses as decoration in her hair. Her hair is dressed with a braided bun at the back, many side ringlets, and a very narrow waved fringe of bangs. Her dress has a wide, off the shoulder collar.

It is composed of three layers of sheer white fabric with olive green dots. A small posy of pink roses with green leaves adorns the center front. Her skirt has three tiers of the same sheer white fabric but the olive green dots simply edge each tier and end with a scalloped hem. She is adorned with a single gold bracelet and wears white gloves. She holds a closed fan in her right hand and pulls back a pink drape with her left hand. The carpet is a pale blue with gray stripes. A portrait of a man in a blue coat hangs on the wall in an ornate gold frame.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges