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Photography appeared in the 1840s and we begin to find much larger numbers of images than previously available. They were a small fraction of what was to come, but the comparison with earlier decades was exponential. Almost all of the 1840s photographs were Daguerreotype portraits. We have one problem in assessing these Dags, it is difficult to differentiate between the 1840s and 50s portraits. We have only found girls in the 190s wearing dresses. We do not see the girls wearing blouses and skirts. We are not yet sure if they were not common or if mothers were just dressing their girls up in the more formal dresses. Younger boys and girls wore shortened dresses. Set-in waist bands and full skirts were common features. and the short cap sleeve was most common 【Severa, p. 23】 . We also see some toddlers with matching capes. This continued until, about 4-5 years of age. At this time the boys were breeched and the girls began wearing dresses with longer skirts. Here there may have been a social class factor, at least for the boys. While there were differences between styles for boys and men, girls were essentially dressed as miniature adults. There were three basic age differences.
First, girls might wear dresses without collars and low necklines. (For women this was only for elegant dresses worn at fashionable events.
Second, hem lines were different. After about age 5 years girls skirts were at or just below the knee this gradually fell to mid-calf level by age 12 years. Girls wore sometimes fancy white cotton pantalettes. Earlier pantalettes were worn to be seen, but by the 1840s we begin to see a lot less of pantalettes, especially by the mid-40s. Unlike the 1830s, the pantalettes were more commonly covered and just peeked out under the hem. 【Severa, p. 24.】 The necklines can be followed easily in the Dag portraits. The hems are more difficult to follow because of the ways most Dags were posed showing mostly the top part of how children were dressed.
Three, we also see girls mostly wearing shortened sleeves. Women mostly wore longsleeves.
Teenagers, especially older teens commony dressed like their mothers. A painted portrait shows the Griffith children at mid decade, giving us some examples of what teenage girls were wearing.
Women wore their hair parted in the center, and looped smoothly over the ears, drawn back into a chignon or bun. Girls like women parted their hair in the center, but we do not see girls with their looped smoothly covering the ears and then drawn back forming a chignon or bun. We do see ringlets which were popular for girls andc younger women. A major development in clothing technology was Elias Howe patenting his lock-stitch sewing machine (1846).
Severa, Joan L. Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans and Fashion, 1840-1900. (Kent: Kent State University Press, 1995).
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