French Boys Clothes: Late 19th Century Dresses


Figure 1.--A French sources describes this modern photograph as a dress worn by a French boy in the late 19th century. This photo is a historic reconstitution provide from collection du Musée Carnavalet France with the help from autentical collection Mrs Langley-Moore of London. It is described as a "costme escoces", a "Scottish outfit". The sleeve style looks to HBC as more like the mid-19h century, perhaps the 1850s or 60s.

French boys by the late-19th century were wearing plainer dress styles, but there were variatins from family to family. There were increasingly stylistic differences between boys and girls' dresses, although not all mothers conformed to those differences. Young French boys until 4 or 5 years of age until the mid-19th century were virtually indestinguishable from girls. They wore the same dresses and lace collars as their sisters convenient for the thrifty mother in a large family. Many of these dresses reflected the looser fitting, less restrictive garments worn by some French boys. This began to cahnge in the alte 19th century as more clearly boys styles appeared. In addition the fashions were more formal and restrictive.

Prevalence

We do not yet have a good feel for how prevalent dresses werre for French bits in the late-19th century. We suspect that social class factors were involved. We do note quite a number of examples in the photographic record. An example is Parisian boy Georges Wattinne Desurmont about 1872-73. Our French archieve is, howver, not yet large enough to draw any valid conclusions.

Styles

HBC has noted several styles of dresses worn by French boys in the late 19th century. Our archive is still limited so we do not yet have much information on the various styles. We hope to develop more information as HBC expands. We have noted various styles. Chemise russe was a dress based on Russian blouse styling. The English robe was a simple dress for young children, both boys and girls. A French fashion magazine in 1882 described it as "... an unfitted pleated dress with two or three flounces at the hem, collar, and cuffs, often of plush or velvet, belted barely above the knee, passing under or inside the pleats or supported outside by belt loops, tied in a bow in back." The American robe style appeared after the robe anglaise. It was an unbelted, dress gathered and falling in loose folds from a yoke which was often smocked. It usually had full sleeves which, when long, were banded at the wrist. This garment was sometimes referred to as a blouse. The design was based on that of a smock and commonly worn for school or play. Versions with ruffles and other trim could be used for more formal occasions. Scottish styles were popular in Europe during the 19th century. Boys not only wore kilts, but tartan fabric and patterns were employed in dresses and other garments. We believe that Scottish styles were more popular in the mid-19th century, but this is a topic that needs to be pursued in more detail. We see French children wearing waistless dresses in the 1870s.

Accompanying Clothing

We do not yet have much inunformation on headwear. We notice both long stockings and socks. Socks were much more common than in America. We notice strap shoes abd button high-top sjoes.








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Created: November 10, 2001
Last updated: 2:58 AM 10/24/2017