Figure 1.-- Rhis CDV portraitn shows an unidentified boy wearing a vested cut-away jacket suit with knee pants and white long stockings. Notice the hat on the table. TYhe dealer dated thr image to the 1870s. We think the 1860s is more likely, but the early-70s is possible. The studio was J. Keens in Hackney, a neigborhood in London.

The advent of the CDV (1860s) meant that for the first time, substantial numbers of photographic images become available for the first time making a more detailed assessment of hosiery trends possibe. Boys wore long stockings, but we see some younger boys wearing socks, commonly before being breeched. Some source report striped stockings at mid-century. We mostly see white stockings. White stockings seem particulasrly popularm but younger boys might wear socks. We see some white stockings in the early-1870s, but most of the examples we have found come from the 1860s. This is a little difficult to assess because so many of the CDVs we have archived are undated. This is somewhat different than America where almost all children weiore long stockings, except when going barefoot.

Created: 3:45 AM 11/16/2022
Last updated: 3:45 AM 11/16/2022