Figure 1.-- This English cabinet card shows three unidentified brothers wearinh matching skirted garments. The boys look to be about 4-8 years old. They wear a plain whote blouse with a sailor collar overlsy. The collar matches the unplealted shirt. The long stockings seem to match the skirt. We thought at first that there was a connection between the collar and skirt, but looking closely we do not see a connection. The portrait is undated. We are not sure how to date the portrait. We would guess the 1880s, but are not at all sure. A basket the younger boy is holding was often a prop for girls, but her all three of the children re clearly boys. The studio was John Hawke in Plymouth.

The primary top worn by boys and girls with skirts was a blouse. This was shirt-like garments were at the time the most common top for children (both younger boys and girls) and women. The blouse was more common at the time than shirts, especially for the younger boys still wearing skirted garments. We notice a range of blouses, although we do not yet have a lot of photographs to go on. The blouses we have seen include plain blouses albeit many with wide collars, fancy, Fauntleroy blouses, and sailor blouses. We think Fauntleroy blouses were mostly worn with Fauntleroy suits meaning knee pants and knixkers. Actually this was a style moving mothers to breech their sons earlier than had been the case earlier. But some Fauntleroy blouses were worn with skirts. The boy on the previous page wears a rather plain blouse with a wide collar. We notice three Plymouth brothers wearing identical skirt outfits with unusual sailor collars. We have never seen outfits quite like this. We are not sure about how to date the cabinet card portrait (figure 1). There probably were other styles which may come to light as our archive expands.

Created: 5:56 AM 6/24/2016
Last updated: 5:56 AM 6/24/2016