Dress and Undersleeves

View of dress, undersleeves and detail image.

Dress, c. 1850. American. Printed wool challis. Gift of Miss Harriet A. Kellogg and her sisters, Julia A. and Laura C. Kellogg, 1943.161

Undersleeves, c. 1845–50. Cotton. Gift from the Estate of Mrs. Louisa Gilman Lane through Miss Caroline Trumbull Gilman, 1923.410–411

This dress epitomizes the restrained femininity of women’s daywear in the 1840s, with its simple embellishment of narrow velvet ribbon on the sleeves and decorative gold buttons down the front. The forest green, floral challis fabric reflects the period’s interest in nature. The design of the dress takes inspiration from the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries in its capped and belled sleeves, and its elongated, pointed waist.