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coordinated American family outfits : brother-sister outfits country trends
Coordinated American Family Outfits: Gender Trends
Figure 1.--This cabinet card portrait shows four unidentified siblings. Theyblooktobe about 6-16 years of age. The portrait is undated but we would guess was taken about 1880. We are not sure, but it looks like three girls and a boy. The child at the right looks liker a boy. He is dressed exactly like his slightly older sister in matching dresses and pleated skirts. The nly dufference is minor varuation in the lace collar. Notice how big sister had begun to outgrow her dress. The only important differnce is that he has somewhat side parted hair while his sister has a center part. While only a little off center, notice the other three have perfectly centered hair parts. Note that the two younger siblings' dresses bear some resemblance to kilt suits, a garment only worn by boys. Notice here that the older sisters alsio have idebtical dresses and hair styles. The portrait was taken in Meadville, Pennsylvania.
Gender was an important factor in coordinating outfits for siblings. One popular convention was to dress boys of similar age in similar or coordinated outfits. This was also done for for girls, but seems somewhat less commpn, perhaps because even younger girls seemed more concerned about their clothing. If there were young enough boys and girls in a family during the 19th century, they could even be dressed alike. This in the 19th century meant dressing the boys in dresses and other skirted garments because girls did not begin wearing pants until well into the 20th century. The portrait here of brother and sister wearing the same dress (figure 1 ).
There were some other options. The principal one was the sailor suit. Nearly identical outfits were possible with the simple expedient of substituting skirts for pants. This created a sailor outfit for the girls. We see quite a few exanples of this.
Using the photographic record to assess such trends is complicated by the fact that it is not always possible to assess the gender of younger children from a photograph, especailly as the boys might wear dresses and have longer hair styles such as ringlet curls. Coordinated the dress of differet gender siblings was less common than dressing the like-gender siblings in identical outfits. Identical outfits were not the only option. A degree of coordination was also possible. This varied from family to family depending primarily on the fashion inclinations of mother. Fathers generally did not interfere in such matters with the younger childten, although he might when the boys got older.
Brothers
One popular convention was to dress boys of similar age in similar or coordinated outfits. We see coutless examples of this in the photographic record. And many are archived in HBC. The boys do not seem to have objected to this, at least until well into their teen years. Generally speaking, boys are less concerned about clothing and fashion than girls.
Sisters
This was also done for for girls, but seems somewhat less commpn, perhaps because even younger girls often are interested in clothing and fashion. But as we see here this was not always the case. The older girls are also dressed identically (figure 1).
If there were young enough boys and girls in a family during the 19th century, they could even be dressed alike. This in the 19th century meant dressing the boys in dresses and other skirted garments. Girls did not begin wearing pants until well into the 20th century, so the common garments were almost always skirted garments. The portrait here of brother and sister wearing the same dress is a good example, althouh the boy seems to be on the upper limits of the ages at whih boys wore dresses ans skirts (figure 1 ). There were some other options. The principal one was the sailor suit. Nearly identical outfits were possible with the simple expedient of substituting skirts for pants. This created a sailor outfit for the girls. We see quite a few exanples of brothers and sisters wearing sailor outfits. Except forthe panys/skirts, they could be essentially identical, but in some cases they were styled sifferently. Coordinated the dress of differet gender siblings was less common than dressing the like-gender siblings in identical outfits.
Assessment Problem
Using the photographic record to assess gender fashion trends is complicated by the fact that it is not always possible to assess the gender of younger children from a photograph, especailly as the boys might wear dresses and have longer hair styles such as ringlet curls. In some cases the children are ientified by name on the back of the cards, but this was usually not the case.
Fashion Options
Identical outfits were not the only option. A degree of coordination was also possible. Some times the coordination was minimal, such as just adding an identical collar. Other times the outfits were virtully identical except for minor diffrences. and of course there was every degree of coordintion in between.
Parental Roles
This all varied from family to family depending primarily on the fashion inclinations of mother. Fathers generally did not interfere in such matters with the younger childten. Dealing with the younger children was normally considered he mother's province. This continues to be the case today, although modern fathers are commonly much more involved thn 19th century fathers. This commonly began to change in the teen years, but this also varied from family to family. We can see at artifact of this in menswear stores. Commonly they do not deal with boys wer, but only begin to address juveile wear with the teen years.
