Bonnet, brown velvet capote with jet trim and teal, brown, and orange satin ribbons, 1880s, side view

1880s. Imported capote style bonnet constructed from buckram, loosely draped with chocolate brown velvet, no distinct brim.
The face opening is wired to shape and is enclosed by a 3.8 cm / 1.5 in. trim of jet beads sewn onto net in a diamond pattern. The lightly gathered velvet emerges from beneath the trim and is arranged in loose folds on the crown, gathered together tightly at the back of the head near the bottom of the bonnet. The fabric is pulled upward from that tight gather into a puff approximately 7.6 cm / 3 in. high above the top of the head.
The top and top sides of the bonnet are decorated with wide brown, orange and dark teal silk satin ribbons in bows and gathers. Short ties of brown pleated silk ribbon emerge from the front corners and have pinholes from having being pinned shut rather than tied.
Velvet lines the edges of the bonnet interior, with cream silk sewn to it to line the majority of the crown. This is finished in back with a hem forming a channel for a silk ribbon, along which the lining is gathered to an opening that reveals the milliner’s label stamped in gold on white silk at the back panel of the bonnet. Professionally made. Hand-sewn.

The Irma G. Bowen Historic Clothing Collection digital catalog was produced by the UNH Library Digital Collection Initiative, supported in part by a grant from the Mooseplate program and New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. Additional funding provided by the E. Ruth Buxton Stephenson Memorial Fund.

Photography copyright, Astrida Schaeffer.

Depth: 11.4 cm / 4.5 in. (depth of crown)

Height: 12.7 cm / 5 in. (height of structural crown)

Height: 21.6 cm / 8.5 in. (height of crown with puff)

Length: 23 cm / 9 in. (length of tie)