Figure 1.-- This cabinet card portrai shows two American siblings, identified only as Ben and Clara. The children look to be about 4-7 years old. Clar weara a dress with a white collar with anecklace. Her dress has low waistline. Ben wears a dress styled like boyish suit. Both children have long stockings. Clara has striped stockings. There is no studio identification. The portrait is undated. We would guess the 1870s. Click on the image for a fuller discussion.

By the late-19th century destinctive boys styles appeared. at the same time we notice fewer and younger boys wearing dresses. This was, however, still largely a family mother--mother's discression. Not all mothers selected these boy styles. There were no definitive rules on styling boy dresses. Some boys were dressed in fancy dresses like their sisters. The boy dresses by the late-19th century had become increasingly common. We think kilt suits were a factor here. We do not see different stlinguntil the appearnce of the kilt suit in the 1860s. Perhaps this resulted in mothers seeing beginning to see different styles as appropriate for the genders. And we see some dresses looking rather like suits, something we did not see earlier. Thus boy dresses seem a phenomenon largely associated with the late-19th century and to a lesser extent the very-early 20th century. It is interesting that it was seen necessary to develop specific styles for boys in the late-19th century. This was not seen necessary in the early-19th century. We are still working on the chronology. We are not yet sure about the 1880s, but believe that the trend for boy-styled dresses began then. The trend for boy-styled dresses was well established in the 1890s.

Created: 10:39 AM 11/19/2015
Last updated: 10:39 AM 11/19/2015