Figure 1.--HBC believes that this American portrait was taken in the 1880s. All we know for sure is that the portrait was taken at the Hartley Studio in Chicago, Illinois. Chicago at the time was rapidly growing, becoming one of America's great cities. All the children here wear the same white summer dresses. Notice that all the children have center hairparts.

Some parents liked to dress the children alike or in coordinated outfits. This convention was limited depending on the gender and age of the children. Often the approach was used with different outfits for the boys and girls. Sometimes styles could be coordinated. Here a popular choice was sailor styles. One of the limitations here during the 19th century was that girls did not wear pants (trousers) and only younger boys wore dresses. The age at with boys wore dresses, however varied from family to family. Thus we do see some mothers who dressed the entire family in dresses, sometines identical dresses. Brothers and sisters until the turn of the century might wear matching dress with few or very little differences. Younger brothers paired with older sisters were the most common, but sometimes it was an older brother. After the turn of the century, boys were less commoly attired in dresses and the dresses that were worn were plainer. Thus mothers might outfit a girl in a typically fancy dress with the required huge hairbow while the boy might wear a plainer Russian blouse outfit. There were other alternatives such as smocks. This was not a common approach in the 19th century, but we do see some instances of it in the photographic record. More common was age grading, but we do see anumber of families with all the children in dresses. We see this convention in several countries. Here is an American family (figure 1). We also note a German family about 1875.

Convention

Some parents liked to dress the children alike or in coordinated outfits. This convention was limited depending on the gender and age of the children. Often the approach was used with different outfits for the boys and girls.

Styles

Sometimes styles could be coordinated rather than fully identical. This was most common for brothers and sistes, but we see identical outfits as well. Here a popular choice was sailor styles. One of the limitations here during the 19th century was that girls did not wear pants (trousers) and only younger boys wore dresses.

Age

The age at with boys wore dresses, however varied from family to family. Thus we do see some mothers who dressed the entire family in dresses, sometines identical dresses. Brothers and sisters until the turn of the century might wear matching dress with few or very little differences. Younger brothers paired with older sisters were the most common, but sometimes although infrequently it was an older brother.

Chronology

Most of the images we have found of brothers and sisters wearing dresses are 19th century images. After the turn of the 20th century, boys were less commoly attired in dresses and the dresses that were worn were plainer. Thus mothers might outfit a girl in a typically fancy dress with the required huge hairbow while the boy might wear a plainer Russian blouse outfit. There were other alternatives such as smocks. This was not a common approach evem in the 19th century, but we do see some instances of it in the photographic record. More common was age grading, but we do see anumber of families with all the children in dresses.

Countries

We see this convention in several countries. Most of the examples we have found are American. This is presumably because of our larger archive of American photographic images.

Examples

We have arvived several examples of brothers and sisters wearing dresses. In ome cases the dresses are identical or coordinated. In other cases they are differently styled dresses.

Unidentified family (Germany, 1875)

We also note a German family about 1875. Parents, we assume mostly mothers, liked to dress all their children in the same outfits. Some times there were out outfits for the girls and other outfits for the boys. Sometimes these outfits could be coordinated. sailor styling was especially useful for this approach. Some mothers wanted all the children in exactly identical outfits. It was not considered proper for girls to wear pants, but younger boys could wear dresses. Thus if a family had older girls and younger boys, the etire family for a few years could be dressed just the same. Of course this could only be done for a few years, essentially until the oldest boy reached school age. We do not see a lot of family photographs showing this convention, but we see enough of them to known that it was an accepted comvention in the 19th century.

Chicago family (United States, 1880s)

HBC believes that this American portrait was taken in the 1880s (figure 1). All we know for sure is that the portrait was taken at the Hartley Studio in Chicago, Illinois. Chicago at the time was rapidly growing, becoming one of America's great cities. All the children here wear the same white summer dresses. Notice that all the children have center hairparts.

Unidentified brother and sister (Germany?, 1920s)

We have no information about the girl and her younger brother. The photograph appears to date from the 1920s. I don't think such short skirts woild have been earlier. I think the children may be German, although they look rather English. They wear identical dresses with white long stockings, and colored strap shoes. The only difference I can see is the color of their strap shoes, although their long stockings may be a slightly different shade. This image is rather surprising. Boys this age no longer commonly wore dresses in the 1920s. We can only guess that the children here came from a wealthy family and were being titored at home,

Created: 10:30 PM 11/29/2005
Last updated: 1:37 AM 7/30/2006