Costume: Country Trends


Figure 1.-- This unidentified American boy had his oortrait taken in what looks like a Turkish costume, probanly in the 1890s. We are not entirely sure just how a costume like this was selected. We suspect it was the parents more thn the boy. But wsouls a mother have seledcted a urkish costume?

We do not know a great deal about costume trends in different countries. Here our experience is largely American. A reader writes, "I have seen many pictures of acrobat/circus performers dressed in strange costumes from the mid-19th century 1800s--about as unlike typical Victorian dress as one could get. I read somewhere that they may have been dressed this way to appear like court jesters from medieval times. Do you think there is any truth in this?" We have seen those portraits as well. The first we have seen were CDVs from the 1860s. These costumes may have been worn earlier and we don't see them because because was not as common. We do not think that these were medieval costumes, but rather circus or theatrical performers, but we have very little actual information. A good example is Basil Kite, an American boy, probably during the 1870s. Around he turn-of-the 19th century we begin to see well-to-do people wearing fancy costumes. This seems to have been more popular in Britain. We also begin to see ready-made costumes in the mail order catalogs. They were generial characters such as: clowns, firemen, Indians, policemen, soldiers, ect. We note Uncle Sam costumes in the early 20th century. Most seem home made. There were more offerings for boys than girls. This changed further after World War I with the growth of the radio and movie industries. Children wanted costumes of favorite characters. We also have some limited information on other countries. Our ininital assessment is that Canadian costumes have a mix of American and British influences. We do not yet have any information on French costumes. We also notice German costumes. Folk costumes were especially popular in the years before World War I. These look like costumes the parents found charming rather than play costumes. Harlequin costimes were also popular. Children like to play Red Indian, but we don't note very many costumes.

America

We do not know a great deal about costume trends in different countries. Here our experience is largely American. A reader writes, "I have seen many pictures of acrobat/circus performers dressed in strange costumes from the mid-19th century 1800s--about as unlike typical Victorian dress as one could get. I read somewhere that they may have been dressed this way to appear like court jesters from medieval times. Do you think there is any truth in this?" We have seen those portraits as well. The first we have seen were CDVs from the 1860s. These costumes may have been worn earlier and we don't see them because because was not as common. We do not think that these were medieval costumes, but rather circus or theatrical performers, but we have very little actual information. A good example is Basil Kite, an American boy, probably during the 1870s. we begin to see well-to-do people wearing fancy dress costumes in the late-19th century. These were elaborate, probably bery expensive costumes. This probably reflects the increasing affluence of industrial America. We are not entirely sure how they were selected. Nor do we know just how they were used. Some people may have dressed up primasrily for a hotograph. We think, however, that the primasry purpose was fancy dress parties. And many people wanted a permanent momento. A good example is Howard Lee in 1892. Another interesting aspect of the American fancy costumes we have seen is their un-Anerican nature. We don't see many Ameriucan characters like the Pilgrims, Native Asmericans are historical fifures. We do see mostly European figures and foreign costumes. We also begin to see ready-made costumes in the mail order catalogs. They were generial characters such as: clowns, firemen, Indians, policemen, soldiers, ect. We note Uncle Sam costumes in the early 20th century. Most seem home made. There were more offerings for boys than girls. This changed further after World War I with the growth of the radio and movie industries. Children wanted costumes of favorite characters.

Canada

We do not know a great deal about Canadian costumes yet. We believe that trends were largely influenced by Britain until the turn of the 20th century. Costumes before the 20th century were primarily dressup outfits for portraits or formal parties rather than play outfits. As in America this probably changed after World War I. We then begin to see some American influences about the turn-of the 20th century. We think American mail order catalogs may have been a factor here. We do not at this time have any information on destincly Canadian costumes. We suspect that some boys wanted to dress as Mounties. We also have no information on trends in the French-Canadian community. Hopefully Canadian readers will provide some insights.

England

Fancy dress costumes alsdo seem to have been popular in Britain.

France

We do not yet have any information on French costumes.

Germany

We have noted German boys wearing a variety of costumes. We do not know much asbout this subject yet, but we have begun to collect some basic information. Folk dress or tracht appears to have been especially popular in the late 19th and early 20th century. We suspect that these costumes may have been more popular with the parents than the children. We notice quite a number of German children outfitted in elaborate folk outfits for formal portraits. We are unsure to what extent the children wore these outfits other than for the portraits. Did they attend church or go to parties in these outfits. We notice various other costumes such as clowns or harelequins. One costume we do not notice is that of Red Indians, yet we know that German children loved to play Indian. We do nogtice German children by the 1920s with a few items of Indian costume. This appears to have been plasy costume items rather than the more elaborate costumes in which the children were costumed. Hopefully our German readers will provide us more information about costume trends and conventions.










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Created: 1:38 AM 3/29/2010
Last updated: 1:38 AM 3/29/2010