Figure 1.--Canadian boys like boys in America and Europe wore dresses when they were young during the 19th and early 20th century. We have few specific details on this convention in Canada bcuse og ou limitef archive. We believe the practice but believe it was similar to trends in America and Britain, if not identical. This unidentified boy was photographed in Montreal which means he may have been French Canadian. The portrait is undated, but we would guess was probably taken in the 1880s. We are not sure what the scroll is that the boy is holding in his hand. He is too young for it ti b a diploma.

Canadian boys like boys in America and Europe wore dressed when they were young during the 19th and early 20th century. We have few specific details on this convention in Canada. It was, however, a very common convention throughout Europe in the 19th century as well as the United States. We suspect that the conventions as well as the styles in Canada were little different than the practice in America and Britain. As far as we know the chronology, styles, and ages as well as social class conventions were comparable. We do not know if there were any differences among the French community. The image here shows a Montreal boy, probably in the 1880s. We note another impage of a Toronto child, but we are not sure if the child is a boy or girl. Our archive is still very limitec, but we hope to develop the topic as our archive expands.

Chronology

Canadian boys like boys in America and Europe wore dresses when they were young. It was a widelky observed comventions for several centuries.We have no informtion on the 17th and 18th century, but note this convention in the 19th and early-20th century, primarily because of the photohraphic record. Only with the invention of photography can the trend be followed in any detail. As far as we can tell the pattern in Canada was similar to that of America and Britain, althouugh our Canadian archive is more limited and thus we can not follow developments in the same detail as Anerica and Britain. Basically the convention was fairly stanadard until the late-19th century. We think younger boys boys wore dresses in the first half of the 19th century. We are not sure how common tunics were at the time. After mid-century we begin to see some boys wearing kilt suits rather than dresses. We still somr boys wearing dresses, although this declined notably in the 1890s. We think Little Lord Fauntleroy suits were a factor. Dresses were much less common in the 1900s. After World War I in the 1920s the convention of dresses for boys were a rarity. We ahve so far only found a few pertinent portraits to substaiate this genreal pattern.

Ages

Not very many old photographs note the children's ages. Some do, but not very many. We are forced to estimate ages, but the prices is higly subjective. Given that the children are almost all younger children, we can not be too far off in our estimates. Our Canadian archive is fairly limited. Thus we can not yet make any assessment of Canadian dress trends. We suspect that age trends were similar to America and Britain. We do not have many photographic images of Canadian boys wearing dresses, but we are gradually acquiring a few. The ones we have found are mnostly boys through about age 5 years. A good example is 2 year old Francis Allan about 1900. We note a CDV of an unidentified boy in a velvet dress with a tunic look to it who looks to be about 5 years old. There is no information associted with the CDV, but we would guess that it was taken about 1870. We see few school age boys wering dresses, but the boy here looks to b about 6-7 years old (figure 1).

Conventions

We have few specific details on this convention in Canada. We suspect the age conventions were the same as in America and Britain. It was, however, a very common convention throughout Europe in the 19th century as well as the United States. We suspect that the conventions in Canada were little different than the practice in America and Britain.

Styles

We notice many different dress styles. Some were very plain while others more complicted. We note dresses with sailor styling. A good example is J. Skioch in 1887.

Social Class

As far as we know the social class conventions were comparable.

Accompanying Clothes

The accompanying clothing worn with dresses are more linited than with many other garments. Here you are primarily the headwear and the hosiery and foort wear. Boys wore a wide rnge of headwear with dresses. Wide-brimmed hats was one style we have noted. Most portraits do not include the headwear so out information here is till limited. Most of the images we have found show long stockings for hosiery and high-top shoes for footwear.

Hair Styles

Boys wore dresses both before and after their curls were cut. The conventions here varied from family to family.

English and French Communities

We do not know if there were any differences among the French community. The image here shows a Montreal boy, probably in the 1880s. We note another impage of a Toronto child, but we are not sure if the child is a boy or girl.

Created: April 30, 2003
Last updated: 6:22 AM 10/9/2009