Figure 1.--This cabinent card portrait is undated. It looks like it was taken in the 1870s, perhaps the late 70s. The boy looks to be wearing an early kilt suit, bit it looks somewhat like a jacketed dress to us. Note the jacket extends below the wauistline. Girls' jacketed dresses generally had shorter cut jackets. A reader asks, "How old would you say the boy in the kilt is? The baby is about a year old since he can sit up straight. I would say the boy standing is 6 or 7 yearsold. HBC believes the child is about 5-6 years old.

Some dresses were made with matching jackets. We see women and girls wearing this style. It was quite stylish for quite a time, It was also worn by boys who have not yet been breeched. It was not nearly as popular for boys as kilt suits, but we do see some boys wearing these dresses. It is a style similar in some extent to kilt suits. Both had jackets which usually matched the skirted part of the outfit. The essential difference here was what was under the jacket. If the child was wearing a dress undernath, meaning a garment with a connected top and skirted bottom then we have a jacketed dress. If the child wears a blouse with or without a vest and kilt/skirt underneath, then he is wearing a kilt suit or skirt. The vests that were often worn with kikt suits sometimes made it difficult to dertermine just what the child was wearing. The cabinent card here is a good example (figure 1).

Style

Some dresses were made with matching or cntrasting jackets made to be worn together. We are not entirely sure they were actual separate jackets. We see many women and girls wearing this style. They were also worn by boys. The jackets and dresses were done in many different styles. At times the jackets are easy to identify. At others times it is a bit more difficult, depending on the pose of the portrait. The jackets worn by girls and women tended to be small, not extending below the waist. These jacketed dresses look somewhat like kilt suits. Some of the these dresses were pleted, futher suggesting a kilt suit. We believe that this was done intentially as the kilt suit was such a populr style for boys during 3-4 decades. We note boys tended to wear larger jackets with their kilt suits which did extend below the waist. The small cut-away jacket was commonly used. for these dresses, at least when girls and women wore them. We are less sure about boys. The images we have found of boys seem to often have larger jackets than the boys.

Chronology

The jacketed dress was quite a stylish convention for some time. This seems one of the more popular dress styles for boys. We do not yet have a complete time line. We have begun to build a time line. We are not yet sure about the 1870s. This does not mean of course that boys did not wear dresses in the 1870s, but we are not yet sure that they wore these jacketed dresses. We do notice jacketed dresses being worn mostly in the 1880s and 90s. We think that the time line is wider than this, but our information is limited at this time. We have found a few images from the 1900s, but not the 1910s.

Gender

We note many stylish girls and young women wearing jacketed dresses. They were clearly a very popular style. We see numerous portraits of girls and women wearing them. It was primarily a style for girls and young women, although ee are not entireky sure of the age conventions for women. It was, however, a major style. Jacketed dresses were also worn by boys who have not yet been breeched. We do not see large number of images showing boys wearing jacketed dresses. They were not nearly as popular for boys as kilt suits, but we do see a few boys wearing these dresses.

Construction

The jacketed dress is a style similar in some extent to kilt suits. Both had jackets which usually matched the skirted part of the outfit. The essential difference here was what was under the jacket. If the child was wearing a dress undernath, meaning a garment with a connected top and skirted bottom then we have a jacketed dress. If the child wears a blouse with or without a vest and kilt/skirt underneath, then he is wearing a kilt suit or skirt. The vests that were often worn with kikt suits sometimes made it difficult to dertermine just what the child was wearing. The cabinent card here is a good example (figure 1). We suspect that children wearing a vest were wearing kilt suits and not a jacketed dress.

Created: 4:56 AM 6/9/2008
Last updated: 2:36 AM 2/12/2013