Figure 1.--This unidentified American boy was photographed at the Potter & Co. studio in California. He wears a white dress with a sailor collar and a scalloped hem. He has a wide colored sash. We can't tell what color it was, but would it was red. Red can show up as a dark color. The portrair is undated, but it looks like the 1890s to us, in part because of the hair style abd the sailor collar. Also notice the white stickings, black were much more common.

We do not know if boy dressed tended to be different colors than girl dresses. We think this is unlikely in the early 19th or even mid-19th century. It could have been possible in the late-19th century, but we do not yet have the information on colors needed to properly assess this. Assessing color trends is of course difficult using old photographs because they were black and white. There is some color information available in catalogs and paintings. Vintage garments are also a valuavble source of color information. We have not yet found a great deal in connection with boy dresses. We do note boys wearing white dresses. White can be identified with a good level of accuracy. We can misled by a very light pastels, we think most of the dresses that looknwehite were actually white. This seems to have been a popular color for younger boys. Colors were to a degree seasonal. White and light colors were popular during the summer. Dark colors were popular for winter wear.

Created: 10:01 PM 10/31/2008
Last updated: 5:57 AM 1/23/2010