Figure 1.--I think this child on this French post card is probably a girl, but it is very difficult to tell with any certainty. The cap and coat look rather girlish. Fur trim on a coast was more common for girls because of the fur, but the child wears rather boyish looking shoes. |
I have had some difficulty in working with French images as I have found it
sometimes difficult to identify the gender of the children. Of course this is
in part a reflection of French children's fashions when the gender of the child
is not clearly defined. Available images of French children show somewhat
fancier styles than worn by boys in many other countries. Italian
boys also sometimes wore famvy styles, but boys in most other countries did
not. Fashions in most other countries were not as fancy and the differences
between gender were much more clearly defined.
Images from the 19th or earlier centuries are often difficult to identify.
Normally 20th Century images are much easier to identify. But in the case of
France even 20th Century images are difficult to identify. Indicators such as
longish hair, strap shoes, and white kneesocks do not help greatly in France as
both boys and girls might wear them.
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