Figure 1.--This appears to be a very young Russian boy from a nobel family photographed in Berlin, probably in the 1870s. He wears a white dress with a rather Scottih-looking tartan trim. |
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Russian boys as in Western Europe, might wear dresses and other skirted garments. Out information at this time is still very limited. We have very little chronological information. We have few historical images, but do have a few 19th century photographs. We believe as in Europe this convention rapidly declined after the turn of the 20th century. Here we believe that social and economic factors significantly affected the clothes actually worn by Russian boys. We are working on the garments involved. We see dresses, skirts, and tunics. We do not see kilts and smocks, but our assessment is just beginning. We see girls wearing pinafores, but not boys. Girls wore dresses and pinafores in the cities. We are not sure yet about rural areas. We think that upper- and middle class boys followed the prevailing European convention, although we do not know just what form this took in Russia. We have no idea about urban working-class or peasant boys and former serf boys in rural areas. These children were less likely to be photographed. The few images we have show boys wearing serf-style tunics. This would have been the bulk of the population in the 19th century. We have little information on the dress styles worn by Russian boys. This would have affected the more affluent classes. We have only a small archive of images, but the photographic images we do have seem very similar to the styles worn in Europe at the time, at least the styles worn by boys from middle and upper-class families in the major cities. They seem to be wearing styles set in Europe rather any indigenous domestic styles. There is one exception, that is the peasnt tunic blouses which for some reason had an impact on European and American fashions. We see boys wearing Russian blouse tunic outfits. It was a popular style in the early-20th century, but largely disappeared after World War II by the 1920s. Our limited archive, however, does not yet permit to address Russian trends in detail. This will require acquiring many more 19th century images.
Russian boys as in Western Europe, might wear dresses and other skirted garments. Out information at this time is still very limited. We have very little chronological information. We have few historical images. The convention of younger boys earig dresses of course goes back some time. At this time our information only goes back to the 19th century, and here only a smattering of images. We have a few images from the late-19th century. This convention as in Europe rapidly declined after the turn of the 20th century.
Here we believe that social and economic factors significantly affected the clothes actually worn by Russian boys. We are working on the garments involved.
We see Russian boys dresses, skirts, and tunics. We do not see kilts and smocks, but our assessment is just beginning. At this time we only have some information on tunics. We see girls wearing pinafores, but not boys. The few images we have show boys wearing serf-style tunics. This would have been the bulk of the population in the 19th century. We have little information on the dress styles worn by Russian boys. This would have affected the more affluent classes. We have only a small archive of images, but the photographic images we do have seem very similar to the styles worn in Europe at the time, at least the styles worn by boys from middle and upper-class families in the major cities. They seem to be wearing styles set in Europe rather any indigenous domestic styles. There is one exception, that is the peasnt tunic blouses which for some reason had an impact on European and American fashions. We see boys wearing Russian blouse tunic outfits. It was a popular style in the early-20th century, but largely disappeared after World War II by the 1920s. Our limited archive, however, does not yet permit to address Russian trends in detail. This will require acquiring many more 19th century images.
Girls wore dresses and pinafores in the cities. We are not sure yet about rural areas.
We think that upper- and middle class boys followed the prevailing European convention, although we do not know just what form this took in Russia. We have no idea about urban working-class or peasant boys and firmer serf boys in rural areas. These children were less likely to be photographed, but there are some group images.
Our primary source of information on skirted garments is period photography. We do not have a lot of information on the 19th cdentury yet, but after the turn-of-th 20th century we begin to see many more portraits--until the Revolution (1917). Unfortunately, the children in these portaits are commonly not identified. This makes it impossuible for us toi determine just how common it was for younger boys to wear skirted garmnents. Thus we are left to trying to assess who is who and with younger children this is often difficult. We will archive here some of these images and the reader can make his own assessments.
The portrait here is one of a number of photosfrom a collection of photographs taken mainly in Russia that featured the family of Count Paul Beckendorff who was a Marshall of the Imperial Court of Tsar Nicholas II and his brother, Alexander, was Russian Minister in London from 1900 to 1917. The photos are believed to have come from his son, Constantine, who was a naval officer in both the Imperial Navy and later, the Red Navy, after which, he retired to Sosnofka, South East of Moscow, where many of the photos are believed to have been taken.
This one is a trimmed cabinet card featuring what appears to be a boy in a dress. It is 5 1/2 by 4 inches (140x102mm). Interestingly it was taken by a Berlin photographic studio, Loescher and Petsch of Berlin. Thus we are not sure if this is a Russia boy in Germany or perhaps a German relation.
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