Spanish Fashions – Spring 1881

Two women are observing a horse race. The woman on the left wears a straw hat with red, yellow, and blue striped material and red plumes. Her dress has a cuirasse bodice, with a v-neck and three-quarter length sleeves and white ruffles at the neck and cuffs. The jacket has a scoop neck, buttons down the front, and has a cut-away style over the hips.

The edges are trimmed with brown on brown cord or embroidery decoration on the hem, neck, and jacket front. The sleeves are trimmed with bands of stripes. The skirt is brown with two bands of ruching at the hem, with stripes showing beneath. The front of the skirt is ornamented with two bands of stripes, draped and loosely tied at the front. She wears tan gloves and holds a tan parasol in her right hand. The woman on the right wears a straw hat with gray plumes. Her cuirasse style jacket is gray with a white lace cravat and lace at her sleeve cuffs.

The jacket has draping at the back to knee level. Her skirt is turquoise blue with gray vertical bands of tucked ribbon down the front, and a band of gray ruching at the hem. She wears tan gloves and pendant earrings. Both women rest their elbows on a railing. On the rolling green landscape, the horse race is visible in the center, and two crowds of viewers in open carriages and on horseback are visible on each side of the course. At the left side of the crowd is a man in a blue uniform and a plumed hat on horseback.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges