Figure 1.--Blouses worn with skirts were a popular tyle for older teenagers and young women in the early 20th century. Here we see sisters (I think) Licett, Lilian, and Blanche in 1913 with little brother Maynard in the background on crutches. Notice how long the skirts are. The snapshot seems to have been taken in Michigan. |
Skirts are of course closely rlted to dresses, bring the bottom half or theportion of the dress below the waistline. We do not jave a great deal of information about skirts as a separate garment yet. The word first appeared in Middle English during the 13th century, a word acquired from Norse. We seem to note dresses more commonly in the 19th century photographic record than blouses and skirts. Both girls and younger boys wore skirts in the 19th century. We are not sure if there were any gender conventions associated with skirts. Were boys more likely to wear skirts than dresses. Of course here there is a complication because boys did commonly wear kilt suits. The kilts worn with kilt suits were commonly more skirts than Highland kilts. We do tend to notice skirts more commonly in the 1890s, but more with young women than girls. That is just an initial assessment at this time. The skirt appears much more common in the early 20th century. The skirt became a staple for girls after World war I and we note girls wearing both dresses and skirts to school. Suspender skirts became a popular style.
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