Promenade Dress – 1842

A full-length fashion plate from the early Victorian era illustrates a woman in an elegant winter public promenade dress. She wears a voluminous taupe or light brown pelisse-coat heavily trimmed with plush white fur along the wide collar, front lapels, cuffs, and hem. The coat features stylized structural pleats on the upper sleeves and is fastened down the center with matching fabric decorative tabs. Underneath, the hem of a vibrant blue underskirt is subtly visible. She wears an elaborate, high-brimmed pink bonnet adorned with a long, flowing white feather plume and secured under the chin with a wide pink ribbon bow, framing her styled ringlets.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges