Two French Women and a Girl – Autumn 1857

Taking a walk out of doors are two women and a young girl wearing French fashions for September 1857. The woman on the left wears a black full skirted dress with a white blouse. The bodice buttons down the front. The skirt and the sleeves have tiers with the upper tier on the skirt having a band of a wide black ruching at knee level. The sleeves have two puffed sections with a band of ruching above and below.

The white blouse has a narrow falling collar with an oval pin or button at the the center front, with very full sleeves with cuffs also buttoned with small oval buttons. Her hair is parted in the center and curled into face-framing ringlets. She carries a blue, fringed parasol. The woman on the right wears a wide skirted dress in white with horizontal bands of red and green checker pattern, or bands of plaid. The bodice fastens down the front with small red buttons and extends into a deep peplum, edged with fringe or a wide but flat ruffle.

The edge of the elbow length bell sleeves are edged with the same treatment. She wears a white lace blouse beneath with full sleeves and snug cuffs, and a narrow falling collar. Her hair is worn with a center part and a black headband. Her white bonnet or cap is decorated with red berries and greenery, and is tied with a wide green ribbon. To complete the outfit she wears a wide gold bangle bracelet and yellow gloves. Holding her hand is a young girl who wears a pink dress overlaid with the pattern of a black ribbon in a grid, with black diamonds at every other junction to create a bold graphic design.

The dress has elbow length sleeves and a square neckline which both reveals a white, scalloped-edged blouse beneath. She wears white lace pantalettes over white stockings with powder blue spats over her black shoes. Her hair is softly braided with a ribbon, and is dressed at the back with a bow. They stand next to an iron railing, with green trees and vegetation behind them.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges