Figure 1.--Here we see a snapshot of a family gathering of some sort, with the women and girls photograohed together. We think it was taken in the 1910s, perhaps the very early-20. Notice that many of the adult women are wearing blouses and skirts, but the girls are wearing dresses.

With the 20th century we finally have an ginormous photographic record giving us a very detailed view of how women and girls dressed. Finally the studio portraits which dominated 19th century photography was supplemented with the snapshot. Kodak introduced the Brownie (1900) which put simple low cost photography into most interested Americans. Over night this revolutionized the photographic record. There were snapshots in the late-19th century, but not very many. Kodak and the companies that followed them generated a tidal wave of photographs showing people in every aspect of their daily lives. This meant we see images from all over America and we see girls involved in much more than formal activities. In fact all of the activities girls engaged in, both at home and away from home. We still see women and girls still mostly wearing dresses, but blouses and skirts are now a very important part of the photographic record. Interestingly, girls continued to mostly wear dresses to school until well after World War II. This can easily be seen in school photography. There is also information on individual schools. We note a few American girls beginning to wear pants, mostly overalls (early-20th century). This was almost entirely limited to rural areas. Pinafores were still important at the turn-of-the 20th century, but rapidly went out of fashion, especially after the 1900s decade. After World War I we begin to see girls wearing rompers, shorts and long pants, mostly for casual/recreational activities (1920s). Short pants gradually increased in popularity for casual/play wear. Dresses and skirts continued to be the primary garments worn by girls. This did not change until the 1970s. Girls still wore dresses and skirts, but shorts and pants (especially jeans) became widely worn. Even at school. There was first resistance from school authorities who eventually had to conced to the inevitable. Of course with their focus on fashion, turned jeans into fashionable wear. Dresses remained, however, not only common, but the standard girl's garment when dressing up.

Created: 7:03 PM 9/26/2023
Last updated: 7:03 PM 9/26/2023