Figure 1.--These English brothers are a good indication of how boys were dressed in the 1880s. Notice the age-graded appraoch. The children look nto be about 3-10 years old. We think ntheybae all boys, althugh we are not certain about the child on the left. This cabinet card is unidentified, but was taken in Newmarket. This mother believed in only dressing the baby of the family in a pinafore, at least for the portrait. Interestingly the baby has his hair done rather like his older brothers. Perhaps it was not thoick enough yet to style like his brother on the left. We do not know what was common practice at home. Image courtesy of the MD collection.

One interesting aspect of the garments chosen for boys clothing is the selection of the garments. There were a variety of approaches that mother could select. Thuis is a relatively recent development because before there were purpose made children's clothing such destinctions were not invisioned. One approach was to select the garment with the relationship to the age of the child. This is called age grading. Here the children in the family have their clothes determined by their ages. As they grow older major changes are made in their clothing such as braeching. Hair styles were also agre graded. The age grading approach conflicted with another popular fashion, dressng all the children alike, espcially the like gender appraoch. Her some mothers adopted both appraoches. The children were dressed alike, but minor changes such as with bows and collars were made or an older boy might be allowed to wear long trousers or a watch fob with his suit.

Age Grading

One approach was to select the garment in relationship to the age of the child. This is called age grading. Here the children in the family have their clothes determined by their ages. The boiys here ae a good example (figure 1). As they grow older major changes are made in their clothing such as braeching. Hair styles were also age graded. Other steps might be more modest suh as changing the accessories worn rather than the garment. A younger boy might wear a large bow, but after a year or two the size of the bow or the type of collar might be changed while the boy continued to wear the same suit. The pratice of age greading apopears to have begun in the early Victorian era or just before it and continued through the Edwardian era and World War I. Age grading is most obvious for boys' clothing, but therewas also age grading fr girls. It was, however, more more subtle for the girls. Of course this all change over time as different styles came and went. Tracking all of this can be somewaht complicated as so few of these old portraits specify the age of the children. For the most part we have to estimate the ages of the children. While not ideal, we can estimate the ages well enough to get a good idea of the age grading process involved.

Identical Outfits

The age grading approach conflicted with another popular fashion, dressng all the children alike, especially the like gender appraoch. SDothe boys were dressed aloke and the giels weredressedalike. The populasrity of sailors suits allowed all he chilkdren o be dressed mearly balike. Her some mothers adopted both appraoches. The children were dressed alike, but minor changes such as with bows and collars were made or an older boy might be allowed to wear long trousers or a watch fob with his suit. While age grading declined after World War I, the paractice of dressing children alike, especially twins, is still popular today.

Created: July 11, 2003
Last updated: 8:59 PM 4/17/2026