|
American boys in the 1870s wore a variety of skirted garments. Little Americam boys in the 1870s, as in Europe, continued to wear dresses. White dresses were popular, often paired with a colorfil waist sash. The Mint Museum of Art In North Carolina displayed is a young boy's dress with a rosette "bustle" purchased in 1879 in Chicago for 4-year old James Cromwell. Such garments
were worn over flounced petticoats with lace-trimmed or plain pantaletts beneath. The kilt suit appered in the 1870s and was enormously popular for younger boys. This was a fashion innovation based on the Scottish kilt that Queen Victoria had helped popularize for boys. While American boys did not wear Highland outfits, the kilt suits became very popular. And no where was it more popular than in America. Some were worn with tartan kilt skirts rather than the more muted materials more common in subsequent decades.
Women and girls primarily wore dresses since the meduieval era. The same was true of younger boys. This conventiin continued virtually unchanged into the 19th century. Boys wore dresses tgat weere basicallyb styled like the dresses their sisters were wearing. After mid-century we begin to see some changes. And they were increasingly notable by the 1870s. Notice the Carl Gutav here wearing a white dress (figure 1). We begin to see the boys wearng dresses that were paliner than that of their sisters. Carl Gustav's dress is as plain as you can get. But is does not stop here. Notice the brightly colored Scottish plaid waistband/sash. That is notable because Scottish kilts were te primary skirted garment that men coud wear. Queen Victoria when she began dressing the Brutish princes in kilts launch the kiklt as boys' wear/ And by the 1870s in America we not only see increasinhg numbers of kilt suits, but we see the dresses boys wear done in tartan plaid fabric or with tartan plaid trim as is the case here. Plaid was not unknown for girls, but it was much more common for boys. While changes were occuring, it is still very difficuklt to be sure about the gender if younger children in many available portraits. Girls dresses were much more complicated. We see a range of styles and lengths. Dress designers played with the bodice making in complicated with many jacketed or sailor touches. Such complications were much less common for the dresses boys wore.
Such garmentswere worn over flounced petticoats, often with with lace-trimmed hems. They might showe at the hem of dresses in the nany photograohic portraits. .
We also note boys wearing plain pantaletts beneath skirted garments.
The kilt suit appered in the 1870s and was enormously popular for younger boys. This was a fashion innovation based on the Scottish kilt that Queen Victoria had helped popularize for boys hen she began dessing the young princes While American boys did not wear Highland outfits to a great extent, the kilt suits became very popular. And no where was it more popular than in America. Some were worn with tartan kilt skirts rather than the more muted materials more common in subsequent decades.
We do not see much in the way of skirts in the photograohic record which in the 1870s was primarily studio photograohy. We are notv sure if skirts were not being worn extensively or for a portrait children were dressed up in their best clothing which meant dresses ratherv thasn skirts which were seen as more of an informal garment. This we are still working on.
We seem to find fewer images of boys wearing tunic suits during the 1870s, at least in the photographic record. Our information is limited, but the photographic record probably is a resonable ibdicator of actual trends. We think that the tunic suits were generlly a style populasr with urban elites. We notice considerable variation in designs. A popular deign was a diagonal design element. A reader writes, "You can see these diagonal front cuts of the jackets conciderably often in the 1870s." Tunic suits mostly came with a belt or other waistline device to create a defined waisline. We are not entirely sure why this was. We think the belt and other waistline feature was seen as military feature. We note both large leather belts as well as modest cloth devices which emulated a belt. One major stylistic element is the length of the tunic skirt. Some of the tunic skirts were so short that they were barely recognizeable as tunics. The Missouri boy here is a good example (figure 1). Other boys had tunics with quite pronounced skirts.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main U.S. 1870s garment chronology page]
[Return to the Main U.S. 1870s chronology page]
[Return to the Main U.S. late 19th century chronology page]
[Return to the Main 1870s chronology page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
