Violet is a Charleston belle, all dressed up for a summertime ball in an evening ball-gown that is the height of fashion, with its rich lace, gossamer silk, and extravagantly full skirts. The doll used in this design boasts delicate coloring: fair skin, large, violet eyes and hair of moonlight-gold, and an expression that suggests a sunny and out-going disposition. Violet wears her favorite shade of lavender, which complements her eyes.

Her bodice, typically called a basque in this period, is in the very fitted and stiff style of the time; it is lined and reinforced to give the appearance of the boning common in the corsets and bodices, which took ladies' waists to very narrow proportions. The seams and pointed waistline are accentuated with white satin ribbon. The daring, bare-shouldered decolletage of the evening gown is accented by a delicate, netting lace embroidered with roses and leaves

The separate skirt and overskirt ensemble are typical of the style of the mid-19th century in which elaborate petticoats, crinolines, and hoops took skirts to ever wider proportions. The skirt is of the same delicate, pale lavender, silky material as the basque, draping in rich gathers from the waist to a full, shimmering circle at the hem, trimmed with the rose lace.

The overskirt is of transparent dotted-swiss tulle, trimmed with the rose lace, richly flounced at the waist, and extending to a sweeping train in back. The overskirt is open at the front to show the beautiful fabric of the underskirt, gathered back like drapery with white, netting roses. The lavender satin waistband snaps at the back underneath a satin flower with pearl center.

Violet's platinum hair, worn down and uncovered as a young debutante's would be, is styled in long curls down the back, the sides twisted up and back from her face, and adorned with a lavender, satin rose ornament.

Here you can also see the back of the basque, whose hidden snap closures in back are covered by delicate white netting roses with tiny leaves of green satin ribbon.