Figure 1.--This image is unidentified. It was probably taken in the 1890s. The younger child looks like a boy, but we are not positive that this is the case. Note the flowers that he is holding. We are not sure if this was a prop meant to suggest gender. The portarit was taken in Reichenbach. I'm not sure precisely where that is in Germany. Image courtesy of the BP collection. |
Young German boys like boys in other European countries wore dresses. In the early and mid-19th century, these dresses were just like the ones their sister's wore. HBC has only limited information pn this fashion in Germay. We do not yet have enough information
for a full page. The link here takes you to a 1838 portrait where a brother and sister wear the same dress style. HBC has also noted the future Kaiser Wilhelm II about 1860 wearing a dress.
While we know that young German boys wore dresses as boy in other european countries, we do not yet understand to what extent this fashion may have differed in Germany. This is of interest, because HBC does not fully understand the reasons for this fashion. HBC has been collection infotmation on the reasons that boys were outfitted in dresses. Some maintain that it was primarily parctical sanitary reasons. If so, then you would assume that the fashion would have not have varied significantly between countries like Germay and France. If there are signifiacnt differences between Germany and other couutries like France and England, than one might sispect that other factors are involved such as the influence of men and women in raising children.
We have just begun to develop information on chronological trends concerning the dresses worn by German boys. Our preliminary assessment is that the German pattern differed somewhat from the rest of Europe. We do notice images of German boys wearing dresses, but it does not seem to have been as common in Germany as in some other European countries. Of course are assessment is complicated some what because until 1871 there were many independent German states before the German Empire under Prussian leadership was created. Hopefully as our information expands we will be able to more accurately understand German trends.
We see German boys of various ages wearing dresses. Of course it was most common for very young boys to wear dresses. The age conventions as in other countries varied over time. We have a limited archive of 19th century images, but have begun to collect some information. Generally speaking we see fewer older boys in Germany wearing dresses than in other countries. This appears to be the case in the late 19th century by the time of German unification (1870). We rarely see a German boy older than 4 years of age outfitted in dresses. We are unsure just when and where German age conventions concerning boys wearing dresses began to diverge from those prevalent in other European countries.With the popularity of photography we can follow German trends in some detail at this time. We know less about age trends in the early and mid-19th century before photography was widely available. Another complication we are unsure about age trends in the various German states before unification.
We know that young German boys wore dresses in the 19th century as was common in Europe and America. The photographic record clearly shows this. We suspect that breaching continued to occur earlier in Germany than several other countries. Here we are just beginning to acquire German 19th century photographic portraits, so our assessment is just beginning. We note, however, that there are many images of very young German children wearing trousers or kneepants, even in the 1860s and 70s. This suggests to us that German boys may havde been breached at an earlier ager than boys in many other European countries (England, France, and Italy) and America. This observation is tebntative as w still have realtively few older German images. Also we not know if this was true for the early 19th century or if this was a common pattern throughout the various German states (Landen). We have no written information from Germany on breaching at this time.
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 anf younger boys, the etire family for a few years could be dressed just the same. Of corse this could only be done for a few years, essentially until the oldest boy reached school age. We do not se 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.
We still have only a small number of 19th century images from Germany. As a result, we are just beginning to assess the photographic record. One problem here is that mot only do we have a limited number of images, but the gender of the children is not always identified in the old images. Actually most available imafes do not have the children identified. Thus boys wearing dresses can easily be confused with girls, especially if they also have long hair. A good example here is an unidentified child who we think to be a girl, but certainly looks like a boy.
We note many German children wore long sockings with dressess. Our archive of 19th century German images is too limited at this time to assess German hosiery trends associated with dressess. We note that long stockings were also common in America, but socks of varying length often worn in England and France. Here sock were especially common with younger children and long stockings more common for older children, although trends also varried chronologically. Long stockings were not needed in the early 19th century as children wore lon dresses and or long pantalettes. As dresser and pantalettes were worn shorter, than long stockings became more common in the second half of the 19th century.
We notice that many German 19th century photographs showing children wearing dresses with patalettes. We are not entirely sure how common they were because in available portrits, the most important source of information on pantalettes, it is often not clear if a child is not wearing pantalettes or if they are covered by the skirt. Dresses were note the only garments worn with pantalettes, but were the most common garment worn with them. We note both boys and girls wearing them. Boys' pantalettes might be more plain than the ones girls wore, but both boys and girls wore them. We have few details about colors at this time, but we believe most were white. We also have very limited information on styles.
A French reader writes, "I think that the little child here is a boy (figure 1). The hair had been cut rather short. A little girl would most likely have had long hair. The frock or dress could be a worn by both geders." HBC tends to agree. We have seen, however, American girls with their hut short. We are less sure how common this was in Germany.
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