Figure 1.--This image is unidentified. It looks, however, to be a boy during the late 19th century in a ballet costume.

Dancers in early ballets wore masks as part of their costumes, and all the roles were danced by men. Slender men or boys wore a woman's costume and a wig. In 1681, women began to dance in ballet de cour. About this time, ballet became a professional art instead of amateur entertainment. At the time ballet developed in Europe men wore tights instead of pants. While women wore long dresses covering their legs, men's styles were to wear tights along with a varierty of styles such as tunics, depending on the social classs or specific time period. It was not until the late 17th century that knee breeches came into style to cover men's legs. At the time there were no specialized children's clothes. We have little information on 19th century ballet wear, most of our information comes from the 20th century.