Figure 2.--The children around the wheelbarrow in Jacques-Laurent Agasse's, 1830 painting The Playground show two children who appear to be boys outfitted in dresses. One boy wears a back buttining pinafore.
Dresses by the 1830s included printed cottons with high tucked waists and gigot (leg of mutton) sleeves. Many fashions of the early 19th century seemingly come directly out of the pages of a story-book. Children’s clothes were similar for boys and girls until about the age of 6 years. A really delightful selection of printed cottons with high tucked
waists and gigot sleeves appeared in the 1830s. Both boys and girls wore dresses of cotton or wool around the house. Little girls often wore pantalettes peeking beneath their dresses. Some boys also wore their
dress over "drawers" or pantalettes
to match, which showed beneath the dress. Pantalettes were becoming
less common for boys, but many boys wore them. The usual child s dress was long or short sleeved to suit the season, with slim sleeve, round or boat-shaped neck and the waist
was lightly fitted with a set-in belt. Preferred fabrics were linen and cotton, for ease of care. There were still no photographic images
to illustrate these styles, but paintings do exist--although the fact
that little boys and girls wore almost identical dresses, it is usually
very difficult to identify gender. One excellent painting showing
the dresses worn by young childern is A good example is acques-Laurent Agasse's, The Playground (1830). In the foreground of the picture is a boy of about 13 or 14 in clearly boys' clothes, a military-like cap and long trousers. To his left two younger children play around a wheelbarrow and farm implements. There is good reason to believe that both the younger children are probably boys, based primarily on their roughhousing with the wheelbarrow. Notice the two girls further back in the painting. One of these girls has a hat and the other is in a white dress, sitting on the ground and talking. Little girls are very verbal and typically cluster together to chat. This can be seen even today in school playgrounds. Boys in contrast seem to prefer activities involving motion, which is also observeable in modern playgrounds. Of course it impossible to tell with certainty. The clothes do not provide definite clues, but they do show how little boys and little girls were dressed in the 1830s: long
dresses, pinafores,
pantalettes, white ankle socks, and slipper-like shoes. We do have some examples of boys wearing dresses in the 1830s. A German painter has provided us an interesting look at the Fischer children in 1838.
The influence of the Empire dress of the early 1800s was still seen in the 1830s, although skirts had begun to grow larger. Dresses by the 1830s included printed cottons with high tucked waists and gigot (leg of mutton) sleeves. Many fashions of the early 19th century seemingly come directly out of the pages of a story-book.
Children’s clothes were similar for boys and girls until about the age of 6 years. A really delightful selection of printed cottons with high tucked
waists and gigot sleeves appeared in the 1830s. Both boys and girls wore dresses of cotton or wool around the house.
Little girls often wore pantalettes peeking beneath their dresses. Some boys also wore their dress over "drawers" or pantalettes
to match, which showed beneath the dress. Pantalettes were becoming
less common for boys, but many boys wore them.
The usual child s dress was long or short sleeved to suit the season, with slim sleeve, round or boat-shaped neck and the waist was lightly fitted with a set-in belt.
Preferred fabrics were linen and cotton, for ease of care.
There were still no photographic images
to illustrate these styles, but paintings do exist--although the fact
that little boys and girls wore almost identical dresses, it is usually
very difficult to identify gender. One excellent painting showing
the dresses worn by young childern is A good example is acques-Laurent Agasse's, The Playground (1830). In the foreground of the picture is a boy of about 13 or 14 in clearly boys' clothes, a military-like cap and long trousers. To his left two younger children play around a wheelbarrow and farm implements. There is good reason to believe that both the younger children are probably boys, based primarily on their roughhousing with the wheelbarrow. Notice the two girls further back in the painting. One of these girls has a hat and the other is in a white dress, sitting on the ground and talking. Little girls are very verbal and typically cluster together to chat. This can be seen even today in school playgrounds. Boys in contrast seem to prefer activities involving motion, which is also observeable in modern playgrounds. Of course it impossible to tell with certainty. The clothes do not provide definite clues, but they do show how little boys and little girls were dressed in the 1830s: long
dresses, pinafores,
pantalettes, white ankle socks, and slipper-like shoes. We do have some examples of boys wearing dresses in the 1830s. A German painter has provided us an interesting look at the Fischer children in 1838.
|
Figure 2.--The children around the wheelbarrow in Jacques-Laurent Agasse's, 1830 painting The Playground show two children who appear to be boys outfitted in dresses. One boy wears a back buttining pinafore. |
Corsets for young children by the 1830s had gone out of style, though there were a few die-hards who insisted on keeping children in stays from infancy, so they would develop straight backs. Most physicians, however, and magazine consultants, argued
against this as being too confining, and in fact inhibiting of a strong body. Free exercise of the little muscles was better. For this reason, they advised against swaddling infants, as had long been the custom. Infant garments were long gowns, and babies always wore
caps.
While corsets for girls had gone out of style, the graceful Empire dresses which allowed for considerable freedom of motion were by the end of the decade out of style. New more restrictive styles for girls were beginning to appear and worse was to come as the century progressed. It was a matter of some debate, but gradually practicality and comfort lost out to fashion.
A young Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1831 penned these lines about about restrictive dresses and ther garments for girls and women:
"They braced My Aunt against a board
To make her straight and tall,
They laced her up, they starved her down,
To make her light and small.
They pinched her feet, they singed her hair,
They screwed it up with pins,
Oh, never mortal suffered more,
In penance for her sins.
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