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We note quite a few images of younger English boys wearing dresses during the 1860s. Some of them suggest a beginning attempt to differentiate boy and girl dresses. Plaid for example seems a popular material. Other seem to be dresses little differet from ones their sisters may have worn. Sone of these images are easy to identify as boys, especially the ones in wgivh the child has short hair. Some are more difficult.
We are somewhatb tenative here because so few images were dated. We can be fairlyn sure that that very few CDVs were from the 1850s. The great bulk of CDVs date to the 1860s or later. Likewise Dags and Anbros verybwiivlly went out of style after the appearance of the the CDV in the 1860s. A more difficult assesment is the 1870s. Some of these undated CDVs cold have been taken in the 1870s, but we think that most of thev 1860s we have dated to the 1860s, if they were taken in the 1870s woukd have been tajen in the early-70s. It should be noted that the CDV persisted in English photiograophy as wllmas French and Germann photographyn much longerbb than was the case in Ameruca, but we acan generallynspot these examples based on fashion tends and mount cgaracteristuics. But at any rate, it bshould be born in mind that unless indicated, we are working wih undated images here. We welcome reader input as to our dating.
We have begun to develop some basic style indicators for English 1860s byb dresses. Decoration varied, but was commonly more restrained than for the girls. We note both low neckline and collared dresses. Age may have been a factor hrre. If there are collars, they tended to be small. We see puffed shoulders as well as short and long sleeves. Waistlines were usualy done at the natural waist. We notice a range of patterns. Plaid was popular for boys. Skirts are normally worn at knee length. Panlettes commonlu covered the knees. We see the dresses worn with three-quarter white socks.
On the previous page we see an example of an 1860s boy. This CDV was taken at the Studio of R. Totherwick, Berwick upon Tweed, probably in the late 1860s (figure 1). This boy wears a dress made to look some whatlike a plaid kilt. The choice of plaid was an effort to make the outfit look more boyish. The outfit here is clearly not a kilt, but a dress. Dresses worn by boys earlier in the 19th century were essentialy the same as those worn by their sisters. Here we see an effort to create a boyishly styled dress. The boy also wears pantalettes. The boy is unidentified, but looks to be about 5 years old. Notice the stick he is holding which would be a kind of riding crop or whip. This is one of several indicators that the child is a boy.
A HBC contributor tells us, "This is a CDV from Drewett's photographers who used to be based at 47 Guildford High Street in Surrey, about 30 miles South West of London (figure 1). The business folded many years ago, but still in the second half of the 20th Century. Drewett's seemed to be the main portrait photographer for this affluent town as all the CDVs I have of Guildford are from there. The company had several smaller outlets at Basingstoke, Aldershot and Winchester (all in Hampshire), Reigate and Dorking (both in Surrey) and Blackheath (in London). I can't date this one. The image shows a boy in a dress with a superb wooden horse." We would say that it it is a 1860s portrait. CDVs appeared in the early 60s so it can not have been a 1850s portrait. The clothing suggests the 60s to us. We note many boys in the 1860s wearing dresses with pantalettes extending well below the hem of the dress.
This English CDV is undated, butblooks to have been taken in the 1860s. The portrait was taken by Blake Brothers Photographers, Devonport. The mother and son are undated. The boy looks to be about 3-4 years old. He wears a low-cut plaid dress with white abkle socks. Notice the bows at the shoulders. Also noticevmother voluminous hooped skirt.
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