We are all used to seeing elegant ladies in old photographs, but almost never in colour. This selection was photographed by various uncredited photographers over a ten year period using the ‘Autochrome’ process. The photos were not colourised later, and are shown as they were developed at the time.
Some of the outfits are surprisingly colourful, and give us a better idea of the variety of fashionable clothing worn by the wealthier ladies over 112 years ago.
beetleypete 
Some of these photos are amazing and look like paintings. A few of them could have stepped out of a Pre-Raphaelite canvas. Great finds, Pete. Thank you!
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Autochrome was a wonderful process, Olga. I am always searching for more examples of those wonderful colours.
Best wishes, Pete.
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This was the real deal. Real color brought the photos to life. I was surprised at a few, reminded me of hippies back in the 60’s. Thank goodness those heavy dresses and hats are long gone (but who knows, they may return.) If they saw the dress of today, like torn jeans, it would be a shock.
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Yes, imagine them seeing heavily tattooed women in torn shorts and bra-tops. They would probably faint! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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They would definitely faint! My grandmother, not Nan who grew up like Laura Ingalls Wilder, the other one, took me to the theater when I was 15, and nearly fainted at my white fishnet stockings and mini skirt. Sigh!
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The colours make it seem like the photos are set in modern times and the ladies are off to an Edwardian fancy dress party.
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I think their figures and faces betray how old the photos are. Women look significantly different today, at least to me.
Best wishes, Pete.
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More scantily clad, which you’ve probably noticed?
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Heavier builds, taller, more make-up, more confident, and in many cases, heavily tattooed. 🙂
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How delightful.
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Definitely some beautiful clothing, but I am so glad we don’t dress like that anymore! It would take half the day just to get dressed!
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They had servants to help them, Jill. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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True, but even so … who wants to be encumbered with layers of stiff petticoats, bustles, girdles and the like? Give me a pair of sweats and a t-shirt!
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They were stunning. Thanks for sharing.
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Glad you enjoyed them, Jude.
Best wishes, Pete.
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So many things come to mind, but I’ll leave the flowery things for this – lots of Pre Raph blues.
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Yes, fashion inspired by Art, and vice-versa.
Best wishes, Pete.
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“The Autochrome Lumière was an early color photography process patented in 1903 by the Lumière brothers in France and first marketed in 1907. Autochrome was an additive color “mosaic screen plate” process. It was the principal color photography process in use before the advent of subtractive color film in the mid-1930s.” (Source: Wiki…)
I really like these types of photos. It’s not easy, but I’m going to pick as my top favorites the third photo (woman at the gate) and the thirteenth photo (woman seated in a flower bed). They’re wearing dresses that are practically the same color. My second favorites would be the ninth photo (woman sitting on a chair inside by a window) and the tenth photo (woman sitting outside on a bench).
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Glad you enjoyed the photos, David. Thanks for letting me know your favourites.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I really liked seeing the clothing in colour. These outfits are much brighter than I imagined they would be.
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It was the same for me too, Robbie.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Stunning colours. Delicious. Thank you for sharing! Another friend of mine (who uses Facebook not a blog as his platform) is also fascinated by autochrome, but these colours are particularly inspirational for anyone who loves the art of fashion, or just wants to be cheered up on a daily basis! X
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I am so pleased that you enjoyed the post, dear Pippa.
Best wishes, Pete. X
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The colorful fashions are surprising and the photos of over a century ago are really surprising.
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I think we are so conditioned to seeing that era in black and white images, it is easy to forget that life was just as colourful then as it is today.
Thanks, Don.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Love the pictures! I wonder, however, why none of them are smiling…It make sense in portrait paintings since it is impossible to hold a smile for so many days. But in photos too?
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The photos still required very long exposures by comparison with modern cameras. Smiling might have blurred their features if they relaxed the smile. It is very rare to see anyone smiling in such early photographs.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Oh, wow, I never knew that it too so long! Never mind the smile then. It is still refreshing to see all these women smile
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The colours are quite extraordinary as are many of those hats! The faces always interest me. I always wonder how it felt to be a woman in those times.
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These wealthier women would have had quiet lives in the main, and were expected to do little else other than to get married. There would have been domestic servants to cook and clean, perhaps even maids to help them bathe, dress, and undress. Working class women would have had to work, or if they had a very large family, look after their children and keep house.
Best wishes, Pete.
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When I was little, I used to dream of wearing such dresses. Now, I feel claustrophobic just looking at the pictures 😬😬😬 Despite the opulence, it doesn’t look like a happy life to me. I loved seeing the colour versions; it did make them look very contemporary to me. And oh, I am well and truly ‘over’ dreaming of wearing such contraptions 👍😀
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I imagine it might have often been unhappy, also very dull. Edwardian society was quite rigid, and other than The Suffragettes, women were kept firmly under control by strict parents or husbands.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Very nice. The details are highlighted beautifully.
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Glad you enjoyed them, Dorothy.
Best wishes, Pete.
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The dresses are gorgeous and those hats! I love these fashions. They don’t look quite as fussy as the Victorian styles.
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No bustles or crinolines, a more feminine and elegant look, I always think.
Best wishes, Pete.
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These are wonderful! Some of the colors are quite unexpected.
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I felt the same way. It made some images feel almost ‘modern’.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Lovely selection, Pete. Cheers, Jon.
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It made a nice change to find actual colour photos, Jon.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I only read about something like this when I read historical books on England.
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Now you can imagine them in colour, Arlene. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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the color offers a completely different feel
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Yes, I think it makes them seem ‘real’, Beth.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Damn! That is a lot of clothing…..great photos but I prefer the originals…..chuq
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Thanks for your thoughts, chuq.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Different seeing the colours although I do prefer the sepia images for that era 🙂 x
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For me, the colours show more of the personality of these ladies, and it doesn’t seem so very long ago as it does in black and white.
Best wishes, Pete. x
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