Figure 1.--These Marken Island children in 1908 wear the colorful local costumes. Note that three of the children have white vertical stripes suggesting that they were boys. Also note that one boy continued wearing the white cap even after being breeched.

Both Marken boys and girls wore dresses. While the children wore a variety of different dress styles, there does not seem to have been any significant stlistic difference between the dresses worn by boys and girls. Floral and other print skirts along woth embroidered detailong seem popular. One source reports that the only ways the boys could be distinguished from the girl was my the different decoration they wore on their caps. A seller of Dutch postcards reports that that there were some detailing differences between the dresses worn by the boys and girls. He insists that the children with vertical stripes are definatly boys. Boys after being breeched might keep the tops, hats, and curls for several years longer. I am not sure that boys always wore dress tops with vertical stripes. In a small community everyone would know whether a particular child was a boy or a girl. I understand that tourists were quite facinated that both boys and girls were dressed alike. Prehaps the stripe was for the benefit of the tourists. Beginning about age 7 through 12 years the boys donned baggy trousers but from the waist up kept the upper part of the dress along with the curls. If you happen to see an old Dutch postcard with little girls wearing trousers these are really little Marken boys.

Dress Styles

While the children wore a variety of different dress styles, there does not seem to have been any significant stlistic difference between the dresses worn by boys and girls. Floral and other print skirts along woth embroidered detailing seem popular.

Gender Differences

Both Marken boys and girls wore dresses. One source reports that the only ways the boys could be distinguished from the girl was my the different decoration they wore on their caps. A seller of Dutch postcards reports that that there were some detailing differences between the dresses worn by the boys and girls. He insists that the children with vertical stripes are definatly boys. Boys after being breeched might keep the tops, hats, and curls for several years longer. I am not sure that boys always wore dress tops with vertical stripes. In a small community everyone would know whether a particular child was a boy or a girl. I understand that tourists were quite facinated that both boys and girls were dressed alike. Prehaps the stripe was for the benefit of the tourists.

Breeching

Beginning about age 7 through 12 years the boys donned baggy trousers but from the waist up kept the upper part of the dress along with the curls. If you happen to see an old Dutch postcard with little girls wearing trousers these are really little Marken boys. Notice one of the older boys in the image here has baggy pants has short hair, but the top and bonnet like the ones worn bu the boys still wearing dresses (figure 1). Another by about the same age still wears a dress and has long curls. Looks like there wasn't a fixed age when a boy was breeched.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Dutch pages:
[Return to the Main Dutch Marken Island page]
[Return to the Dutch page]
[Dutch choirs] [Dutch royalty] [Dutch school uniform] [Dutch youth groups]

Created: February 13, 2002
Last updated: February 13, 2001