Figure 1.--This 1906 portrait shows aounger Canadian boy wearing a fancy hat with a dress. Unless we knew he was a boy, there would be no way of telling. The portrait was taken by , original mounted photo of child was taken by O. Brien in Oshawa, Ontario. The boy is not identified, but there is a hand written message on the back in beautifully penned script, but a rather confusing text. It reads, "This was the day he fell off the seat, had been crying. I hope that accounts for the amiable expression. M. Summer of 1906."

Canadian boys wore a wide range of headwear with dresses. Usually the headwear, except for the various youngest was hats. Younger boys might wear bonnets. As far as we know, bonnets were styled similarly for both boys and girls. Older boys wore hats. We see fewer boys wearing caps with dresses. We see a variety of hats being worn by both boys and girls. Boys might also wear fancy hats like girls. Here age was also probably a factor. The age of breeching varied from family to family. Thus there was some older boys, perhaps 5-6 years old still wearing dresses. This was less common after about age 6 years. These older boys might wear plainer-styled wide brimmed sailor hats. Wide-brimmed sailor hats is one of the styles we have noted in the photographic record. They were made with various crown, both flat and rounded. While both boys and girls wore dresses, often they wore different hat styles. Most portraits do not include the headwear so out information here is still limited. Unfortunately relative few portraits of boys wearing dresses include the headwear.

Created: 1:31 AM 8/5/2008
Last updated: 1:31 AM 8/5/2008