Figure 1.--Here we see a famous Lewis Carol portrait of the Cameron family taken in the late-1850s. The children are wearing skirted garments. Notice the oldest boy, Charles, is wearing striped long stockings. A lot of period illustratrions show children wearing striped long stockings, but as we have so few photographic images until the 1860s, we can not yet confirm this. We see very few stripped stockings in America until the 1870s.

We note a lot of illustrations suggesting children wore striped long stockings in the mid-19th century. Many of the illustratios come from English sources . We were a little surprised by this because our archive of American images does not how this fashion in the 1840s and 50s and in the 60s we mostly see white long stockings. As there are few English Dags and Ambros, we are unable to assess hosiery trends at mid-century with any validity during the 1850s and very early-60s. We do note a Lewis Carol portrait of the Cameron boys (late-1850s). The older boy, charles, is wearing striped long stockings with some kind of a skirted outfit (figure 1). We do begin to see large numbers of portraits with the appearance of the CDV (1860s). We see more boys with striped stockings in the 187os. We do not, however, see large numbers of children wearing striped long stockings. This may reflect our still limited 19th century archive. So this is a topic we are still developing. We are not yet sure about gender trends. We think both bots and girls wore striped stockings, but most of the images that we have collected to date show boys wearing them. We have no color information yet. Most of the patterns are bold stripes of the sane width. American children seem to have worn more varied stripe patterns. This could reflect, however, the limited size of our sample. Social class seems to have been a factior, in part because until late in the 19th century, it was mostly boys in well to do fsmolies that wore the shortened-length pants thst were worn with long stickings.

Chronology

We note a lot of illustrations suggesting children wore striped long stockings in the mid-19th century. We do not note striped stockings in paintings during the early-19th century. Long pants and white hiosiery seem common, but when shortened-length pants appeared we do not see many striped stockings. A factor here may be that iot is tedioys to paint striped stockings, so there was an enducemrnt to verge away from relaism if striped stockings were worn. Many of the illustratios come from English sources . We were a little surprised by this because our archive of American images does not how this fashion in the 1840s and 50s and in the 60s we mostly see white long stockings. As there are few English Dags and Ambros, we are unable to assess hosiery trends at mid-century with any validity during the 1850s and very early-60s. We do note a Lewis Carol portrait of the Cameron boys (late-1850s). The older boy, charles, is wearing striped long stockings with some kind of a skirted outfit (figure 1). We do begin to see large numbers of portraits with the appearance of the CDV (1860s). We see more boys with striped stockings in the 1870s. We do not, however, see large numbers of children wearing striped long stockings. This may reflect our still limited 19th century archive. So this is a topic we are still developing. We are not yet sure about the 1880s, but we no longer see striped stockings in the 1890s.

Age

We notice fashionable London boy Osbon Richards wearing striped long stockings with a sailor suit in 1876. i

Gender

We are not yet sure about gender trends. We think both bots abnd girls wore striped stovkings, but most of the images that we have collected to date show boys wearing them.

Color

We have no color information yet.

Patterns

Most of the patterns are bold stripes of the same width. American children seenm to have worn more varied stripe patterns. This could reflect, however, the limited size of our sample.

Social Class

Social class seems to have been a factior, in part because until late in the 19th century, it was mostly boys in well to do fsmolies that wore the shortened-length pants thst were worn with long stickings.

Created: 6:37 PM 8/16/2012
Last updated: 3:16 PM 3/31/2022