Percy's Clothing (1880s)


Figure 1.-- Here we see Percy at about age 2 years. This portrait was dated 1890, but as we explained the dates on the portrait do not seem to representvthe date the portrait was taken. Percy wears a dark-colored dress with a large white collar. There are also lace bands on the sleeves. Percey's hair is cut relatively shirt in contrast to subsequent portraits. The dress is not unusual for boys this age at the time. Image coutesy of the RG collection.

Percy wears dresses and long hair in most of the photos. He obly wears trousers in the last portrait. The curious thing about these images of Percy is that none of the dresses appear to be "boy" dresses. The first image of Percy at age 1 years is a fairky standard baby image. Boys and girls were normally dressed alike at this age. As Percy gets older, however, normally one would expect him to be outfitted in plainer dtresses and be photographed with boyish props. These were the standard conventions of the day. With Percy we see him not only wearing dressing, but fancy dtresses that seem more appropriate for a little girl. And we see him wearig girlish bonnets. Dresses were commonly worn by boys at the time. Boinnets for boys beyond age 1 or 2 years were much less common. In additiion, the props that Percy is photographed with seem more appropriate for a little girl. We are left with the conclusion that Percy was an only child that was absoluterly cherished by his mother who may have wanted a girl and almost certainly did not want her little boy to grow up. I would guess he was breeched at 9 or 10 years of age. In the last dress photo, judging from the height of the post he is standing next to, he looks to be the same age as the last photo, which has him in a knicker suit. Our contributor writes, "Two portraits show Percy dressed as a girl, including props and necklace. This is especially true of one image which shows him wearing a bonnet. He also wears a fancy dress and his hair is held back from the face with a narrow ribbon, which is tied in a bow at the top of his head. None of the dresses he weasrs are boys dress. It is interesting to note that Percy's attire seems to become more feminine as he gets older, at least until he is breeched. Percy was breeched rather late, probably around 10 years of age."

Percy's Dresses

Percy wears dresses and long hair in most of the photos. He obly wears trousers in the last portrait. The curious thing about these images of Percy is that none of the dresses appear to be "boy" dresses. Boys and girls were normally dressed alike at this age. As Percy gets older, however, normally one would expect him to be outfitted in plainer dtresses and be photographed with boyish props. These were the standard conventions of the day. With Percy we see him not only wearing dressing, but fancy dtresses that seem more appropriate for a little girl. And we see him wearig girlish bonnets. Dresses were commonly worn by boys at the time. Bonnets for boys beyond age 1 or 2 years were much less common. In additiion, the props that Percy is photographed with seem more appropriate for a little girl. We are left with the conclusion that Percy was an only child that was absoluterly cherished by his mother who may have wanted a girl and almost certainly did not want her little boy to grow up.

Age

Here we have organized our discussion by age estimates. We would have preferred to have dome this chronologically. Unfortunately while some of the portraits have dates, the dates or most of them do not appear to be the date the portrait was taken. Some appear to be when the portraits were reprinted. Thus we have organized the portraits on the basis of our estimates of Percy's age when the portraits were taken. This is a tricky undertking. We could well be mistaken about some of these estimates. Our reader who contributed the images writes, "I believe he is older than your estimate. I think the portrait with the bonnet was taken more or less at the same time he was breeched. If the earlier one is at 6 years and the last one at 9 years, he did not grow much during those 3 years. I don't think dresses at 8 years is that unusual. The Haight family boys (1870) wore dresses at age 8 years. We know that Penn Browning (Elizabeth Barrett Browning's son) wore dresses and ringlets at 9 years, and you have examples on HBC of boys in dresses at 11." Our reader is correct that boys wearing dresses even after age 6 was not unknown in the 19th century. We would say that after age 6 that it was increasing less common. The term "unusual" is a bit difficult to assess as unusual in the 19th century is very different than unusual today. At the time it was accepted that the mother determined how a child dressed and much more variation was accepted than is the case today. Our general assessment is, however, that most boys were breeched by about age 6 and many earlier. After age 6 most unbreeched boys would be boys raised by affluent families and doting mother. We know that there were a number of such children, but they were a destinct minority.

Individual Portraits

We have seven images od Percey showing at different times and in different outfits from about age 1-10 years. The daies on the images are confusing and we do not know precisely wjen Percy was born. Thus we have to estimate his age in each portrait.

Age 1

The first image of Percy at age 1 years is a fairky standard baby image. Here we see Percy at about age 1 year. This portrait was undated. Percy looks to be wearing a velvet dress trimmed in lace. Note the use of the buttons in a vertical line for detailing. His hair is donre in short ringlets, probably because at this age he did not yet hsve much hair.

Age 2

Here we see Percy at about age 2 years (figure 1). This portrait was dated 1890, but as we explained the dates on the portrait do not seem to representvthe date the portrait was taken. Percy wears a dark-colored dress with a large white collar. There are also lace bands on the sleeves. Percey's hair is cut relatively shirt in contrast to subsequent portraits. The dress is not unusual for boys this age at the time. A reader just viewing the portrait might well conclude that the child was a boy. It is currious that Percy has such a boyish appearance here, but in subsequent portraits he has a nuch more girlish appeaance. Percy's mother or care giver seems to have changed their idea as to how Percy should be dressed. Here we have no idea why this occurred.

Age 2 1/2

Percy in this image looks a little older than in the second portrait, but perhaps not yet 3 years old. The image is dated 1886. This is apparently the only original portrait which suggests that Percy may have been born in 1883, but as we say the dates on these images are confusing. The 2 1/2 years of course is just an estimate on our part and we would be interested in any age estimates reader may have. There is, however, a decided change in Percy's clothing and hair style. The dress is destincly girlish. The dress was lavisly decorated with lace trim and a large lace front piece as well as an unusual kace waist decoration. The skirt had elabotate work. I'm not sure about the color of the dress. Percy's hair is much longer and has a girlish center part. A center part in the 1870s and 80s was normally worn by girls. There is even a girlish-looking basket prop. Looking at this portrait, most would conclude that the child was a girl.

Age 4

Percy looks to be about 4 years old. He may be only about 3 1/2 years but I think he might be 4 years old in this portrait. Estimating ages is very difficult, perhaps readers have a better idea on this. Here he wears a dress with a simple collar. I'm not sure about the color. The dress is trimmed in wht looks like dark or black velvet--both mock bows and bands. There is also decoration at the hem. I tthink that is called scrunching. Hopefully experts on dressmaking with know more. There also seems to be a slip showing, but this may be part of the trim of the dress. Percy wears plain pantalettes which are sometimes called drawers. He also wears long white stockings with strap shoes. The strap shoes have the ankle straps rather than the instep strap. Percy's hair is done long with a center part, which was a girlish style at the time. The hair is drawn back, but is not curled.

Age 5

Percy here looks about 5 years old. Perhaps he is not quite 5, but we suspect he is almost 5 or has turned 5 years old. The portrait is dated 1880, but as we mentioned, we are unsure what that means. Again Percy has a dressed with elaborate lace work atound the collar and worked up as a kind of front dress decoration. The dress in done with two materials. There is a dark overay, but I am unsure about the color. The overlay has a lot of fancy work, unusual in boy dress, especially a boy by 5 years of age. Underneath it looks like black velvet. The Lace is repeaed at the sleeve cuffs. He wears the dress with black long stockings. Also notice the necklace. Percy's hair has been allowed to grow longer. He still has the girlish center part.

Age 6

This is the last image of Percy still wearing a dress. He looks to be about 6 years old, but perhaps he has not yet quite turned 6. He looks a little older than his previous portrait. The portrait was taken in the same location with the same background. The dress is very silimar, but there re differences. Percy wears a dark dress, but I am not sure of the color. He has a lace collar with the lace repeated at the sleeve cuffs. This is a decoration his mother seems to have liked. Its difficult to make out much detail about the dress itself, but we notice button ornamentation. The most striking aspect of this portrait is the bonnet. Many boys wore dresses in the 19th century, although most were breeching by age 5-6 years, many earlier. Some wore dresses longer, but it was much more common. What was not very common was for 5-6 yearold boys to wear girls bonnets at this age. We have archived very few such images. Also notice the prop which looks rather like a girl's handbag. Percy's hair is long and parted in the center. While often difficult, children in dresses can often be identified as boys because of their headwear, hair syle, the plain styling of their dress, or props. None of this is possible with Percy. Without knowing that it was him, we would have assumed the child here was a girl.

Age 7-8

We are unsure what happened to Percy at age 7-8 years of age. Unfortunately we have no portraits of him during this period. Presumably this was when he was breeched and his hair was cut, but we have no details on precisely when this occurred and how he was then dressed.

Age 9

I would guess Tyat Percy was breached at 7-8 years of age, although there is now way of telling. Here we would guess he is about 9 years old. In the last dress photo, judging from the height of the post he is standing next to, he looks to be about the same height as he was in the 6 year old protrait. His face, however, looks a at least 2 years older, perhaps 3 years. The portrait is not real clear, but Percy is wearing a kneepants or knicker suit. Our contributor writes, "Two portraits show Percy dressed as a girl, including props and necklace. This is especially true of one image which shows him wearing a bonnet. He also wears a fancy dress and his hair is held back from the face with a narrow ribbon, which is tied in a bow at the top of his head. None of the dresses he weasrs are boys dress. It is interesting to note that Percy's attire seems to become more feminine as he gets older, at least until he is breeched. Percy was breeched rather late, probably around 10 years of age." Here Percy holds a cap in his hand, but it is difficult to tell just what kind of cab it is. Percy's hair is cut short and parted at the side. If as we initially assumed that these were 1880s images, then this portrait would have been taken about 1890. But the image looks older to us, rather like it was taken in the early 80s if not earlier.






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Created: 11:19 AM 6/2/2005
Last updated: 11:19 AM 6/2/2005