Walking Dress – Summer 1810

A young woman and small child wear their London summer walking clothes. The woman wears a long, white dress trimmed with two bands of ribbon at the hem. Over her dress she wears a lavender, high-collared, lace-trimmed mantelet or cape tied at the neck. Her white lace bonnet is trimmed with ruched bands of lavender ribbon and pink flowers. She wears lavender slippers and yellow gloves, and she carries a tasseled lavender reticule and a parasol trimmed with white lace and a band of trimming forming a pattern of x’s.

The young child walking next to her wears a yellow knee length tunic with a high collar and short puffed sleeves and matching pantaloons. The child wears black slippers and a straw narrow-brimmed hat with a turned up brim. The child is playfully “riding” a cane or stick like a horse.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges