Figure 1.--This Italian cabinet cards was amodern dome with silver nitrate and a mediocre colorization job. The boy wears a knee pants suit with some Norfolk styling elements and a blue tie. The girl weas a pink dress with a large collar and sash. wear long stockings. The girl has strap shoes and the boy high-top shoes. The children look to be about 8-14 years old. The studio was Russo Melchiorre in Nicastro, a small town in the Calabria (southern Italy).

The clothing styles of the 1900s continued into the 1910s. We continue to see significant social class differences, but this was beginning to change. The typical Italian peasant clothing in rural areas that was so common in the 19th century was still seen, but becoming less common. The photograph here is a good example of rhe changing styles (figure 1). Peasant dress entailed an often non-descript hat with a wide brim, long sleeve shirt, vest, long trousers, and bare feet. This was a rather destinctive style. The urban poor dressed differently, kind of mix between rural dress abd urban dress. Only many of the families could not afford to dress the children fashionably. Two of the younger boys here seem to be wearing basic tunics. Shorter cut pants were much more common in urban areas. One common factor was footwear. Shoes are expensive. As a result, both urban and rural poor children commonly went barefoot. The warm climate of southern Italy meant that children could go barefoot year round. Middle class boys in the cities, especially the industrial north, dressed in more fashionalble clothing similar to those worn in other European countries, especially France and Germany. Unlike the rural peasantry, these were not a destinctly Itlalian style. Sailor suits continued to be a popular style. Knee pants had become standard wear in the cities and were evolving into short pants. Unlile Anerica, knickers were not so common. In some families older boys meaning mostly teenagers might wear knickers. This was a trend that became more motable in the 1920s.

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Created: 7:41 PM 7/30/2020
Last updated: 7:41 PM 7/30/2020