Figure 1.--This 1888 CDV portrait shows an unidentified English child. We though the child might be a boy, but think the perl necklace rather suggests a girl. Note the jackt look and fancy vest front area. The studio was T.Illingworth, 41 Crown Street, Halifax. Halifax is a town in West Yorkshire near Bradford.

Girls continue to wear always wear dresses. We do not have a substantial achive of 1880s dresses yet. The examples we do see seem similar to American syles. We think that both American and English dress styles were influenced by French styles. We notive dresses looking like they have jackets abd fancy vests. We also notice lace collars and matching cuffs rather like a Fauntleroy suit. Rge dress the girl here is wearing in 1888 is a good example (figure 1). We see long sleeves, sometimes dome just short of the wrists. We continue to see shorter hems for younger girls. This shorter skirts for girld certainly suited Lottie Dod who was five times winner of the Ladies Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon. She was 11 when she first competed and won her first title at 15 in 1887. Her young age meant she could wear a shorter dress and move around the court more freely than her adult opponents in floor length garments. Trousers for women evolved from bloomers, invented by Elizabeth Smith and Fabrizia Flynn, which were named after Amelia Bloomer who wore them in the 1850s. The initial bloomers were skirted garments, but by the end of the 19th century unskirted ones appeared for wearing in the pursuit of athletic activities such as cycling and gymnastics.

Created: 4:09 AM 12/16/2012
Last updated: 4:09 AM 12/16/2012