Spanish Fashions – Summer 1881

Two women are depicted on a sandy beach. The woman on the left wears a straw hat with pink flowers and green leaves. Her dress is light blue with a darker blue and pink floral print, and has a cuirasse bodice, with a high collar and narrow long sleeves. There is white lace around her collar, sleeve cuffs, and on her overskirt. She has a dark blue ribbon sash at the waist and a dark blue ruffles at the hem in the back.

The overskirt has two layers, each edged with a white lace ruffle, and the upper layer is draped up at the back. She wears yellow gloves and holds a black parasol trimmed with pink flowers to match her hat. The woman on the right wears a straw hat trimmed with white lace, pink ribbon, and green leaves. Her dress is light pink with a darker pink floral pattern. The dress has a jewel neck with a narrow white ruffle, and the cuffs of the long narrow sleeves end with white ruffles. The center of the bodice is darker pink pleats or vertical rows of satin, edged with white scalloped lace, ending in a sharp point below her waist. The sleeve cuffs have rows of pink satin to match.

The hem of the overskirt edged with white scalloped lace, is gathered up into a pink bow below her right hip. The underskirt is darker pink narrow pleats edged with white. She wears yellow gloves and holds an open pink parasol in her left hand. The women stand on the sand before a large wooden object, perhaps a bollard. Behind it are two boys, with fishing rods and creels. In the background is a boat pulled up on the shore, a boat sail in the distance on the water, and a group of two boys in blue, a woman in pink with a parasol, and a gentleman in blue wearing a hat, who are walking along closer to the water.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges