Figure 1.--Boys' haie bows were generally narrow ribbons, but there were larger ones as well. The portrait is unidentified and undated. This is an American child photographed about 1905, certainly pre World War I. While the child is unidentified, HBC believes that it is a boy. Click on the image for more information on identification and the unusual garment the child is wearing.

HBC has even noted one tuuic which appears to have been made with shorts rather than a skirted hem--rather like an early romper suit. The image is not clear, but the hem looks to be more than a fold in a skirted tunic. I don't seem bloomer knickers, giving further evidence the garment has a shorts bottom. The child looks to be wearing a tunic-like garment that has a shorts bottom. HBC has not noted cacalogs offering such a garment. It looks rather like an early romoper suits and the early 1900s is when romper suits first appeared. The portrait is undated, but HBC estimates that it was taken about 1905. The gender of the child wearing it is unknown and as it is a younger child it is difficult to tell. HBC believes, however, that it was probably a boy. Surely a garment made with shorts instead of a skirted hem in 1905 would have been for boys and not girls. HBC has noted girls wearing tunic suits, but girls wearing short or long pants before World War I are very unusual. Hairbows of course were common for girls, but many contemprary portraits also show boys wearing hairbows. What seems rather unsuaual here is why a mother would have chosen a large hairbow for a boy and then chosen to dress him in an unsual short pants tunic rather than a skirted tunic. Whatever the gender of the child, this outfit does not appear to have been a common style as HBC has noted few such examples.

Created: March 2, 2002
Last updated: March 2, 2002