Figure 1.--This unidenyified American boy wears a plaid dress, probably in the late 1890s. He looks to be about 1-2 years old.

We have noted several boys wearing plaid, or material meant to look like plaid in several countries, although our archive is still limited. Most of the boys we have noted are America and Britain. This may in part because our archive is fairly extensive for both countries. This appears to have been a popular pattern for boys dresses--presumbably bcause there was some connection with kilts. I suspect that some mother may have told their sons that their plaid dresses were kilts and that boys in Scotland wore kilts, but have no actual confirmation of this. We note boys wearing plaid dresses in the 1860s-80s, but this is just a preliminary assessment at this time. We are unsure as to the extent plaid dresses were popular in other countries. We do note a French boy, Maurice Terrillon in 1894.

America

We have noted several boys wearing plaid, or material meant to look like plaid in several countries, although our archive is still limited. We have noted several American boys. A good example is a New York City boy, we think in the 1840s. And we see another American boy, we think in the 1850s. We are not sure if this plaid pattern was especially common in America or this simply reflects the fact that we have a particularly large American archive. This appears to have been a popular pattern for boys dresses--presumbably bcause there was some connection with kilts. We know that British fashions had a particularly important impact on America. I suspect that some mother may have told their sons that their plaid dresses were kilts and that boys in Scotland wore kilts, but have no actual confirmation of this. We note boys wearing plaid dresses in the 1860s-80s, but this is just a preliminary assessment at this time.

Canada

Our Canadian archive is kimited, but we hav found a few portaits of Canadian boys wearing plaid dresses. The styles seem similar to American and British plaid dresses. One example is the Coll sibling in 1860.

England

Presumably plaid dresses would have been very popular in England because Queen Victoria made all things Scottish so popukar. Our English archice, however, is nuch smaller than our American archive. Thus our knowlege of period English dresses is still very limited. We do notice Edwin Crawshay a wealthy English boy in 1864.

France

We are unsure as to the extent plaid dresses were popular in other countries. We do note a French boy, Maurice Terrillon in 1894.

Germany

We have not noted Germany boys wearing plaid dresses, but our 19th cdntury German archive is still realtively limited.

Scotland

Plaid of course came from Scotland. You might think that as a result, plaid dresses would be especially popular in Scotland. We do not have, however, an adequate archive of Scottish dresses to determine if they were in fact popular in Scotland.

Created: March 18, 2004
Last updated: 5:59 AM 12/8/2017