Walking and Evening Dresses – Spring 1831

Two women pose in Philadelphia fashions from 1831. The woman on the left wears a blue walking dress with leg-of-mutton sleeves. Her collar is very high and is edged with white lace. Blue ruffles run from each shoulder down the center of the skirt. She wears a blue ribbon belt with a rectangular gold buckle. She wears dark green walking boots and a pale yellow bonnet with green ribbons and bows at the top.

She holds a small gold object in her left hand and looks at the other woman. The woman on the right wears a dark green evening dress. The collar is wide and dark emerald green, probably velvet. It has two long thin panels that run horizontally across the front and the back of the collar, which is edged with white lace. The dress has leg-of-mutton sleeves and the cuffs are made of dark green velvet. There is a dark green velvet stripe with leaf shapes in the same dark green material on the skirt.

She wears white flats and holds a white quill pen. She leans on a small wooden table, writing a letter. Her hair is in an up-do and there are blue and pink flowers placed in it. The feather tip of the quill touches the bottom of her chin as she looks at the other woman.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges