Figure 1.--This cabinet card portrait shows a young Bulgarian mother with her small child, about 2 years old. The mother and child are unidentified. We would guess that the child is a boy, but there is no way of telling for sure. Some girls had close-cut hair. The child is wearing a sailor-styled dress. The portrait is undated, but we would guess based on the mount was taken about 1900. The studio was Tchernevi Freres in Vratza. Vratsa was a small town of about 12,000 people in northwestern Bulgaria set in the foothills of the Balkan Mountains. Notice that despite the remote location, it did not mean that people there were not fashionably dressed. It was at the time a commercial and crafts center.

We do not have much information on Bulgarian skirted garments yet. Bulgaria was part of the Ottoman Empire longer than any other Europen county. Thus the the Ottoman impact was grater in Bulgarin than eldewhere, and this included fashion. Alythough we hve little information on Ottoman fashion. After centuries of Ottoman control, Bulgaria achieved its independence from the Ottoman Empire at a time that it was still fairly common in the West to dress younger boys in dresses and other skirted garments. Given the long era of Ottoman control, Western fashion was still not widely worn in Bulgria at the time tyhe country achieced its independemce (1870s). It took some time for Western garments to become well-established in Bulgaria along with Western fashion conventions. It began with the educated and wealthy and gradually spread to the middle- and finally working-classes. All of this of course began in the cities. Change was much sloweer in the less fashion concious countryside. And by the time Western fashions were well-estblished after World War I, the convention of dressing younger boys in skirted garments was declining. Thus we are unsure to what extent it was prevalent in Bulgaria. Our small Bulgriam archive provides only limited information. We simply do not have the needed imagrs to follow Bulgarian trends. We do see some boys in wealthy families wearing fashonable skirted garments in the late-19th century. We are not yet sure about middle-class families. We seen vryyoung boys wearuig dresses asfter Wiorkd War I ub the inter-war era. We do not know hiw commion thi wss. We hope to deal with this topic more adequately as HBC's archive grows.

Ottoman Era

We do not have much information on Bulgarian skirted garments yet. Bulgaria was part of the Ottoman Empire longer than any other Europaen county. Unlike earlier conquests, most of the Balkans retained its Chritian idntity. There was, however, a huge cultural imprint. The Ottoman impact was greater in Bulgaria than elsewhere (except Albania), and this included fashion. Unfortunately we have little information on Ottoman fashion. As far as we know, the Ottomans had little specialized children's clothing. This was a recent developmnt even in Europe. As in other technological areas. Technology was largly imported from Europe. As a result, the photographic industry was much slower to devlop in the Muslim Ottoman Empire than in Christian Europe. This makes it dfficult to follow fashion trends.

Indepedence

After centuries of Ottoman control, Bulgaria achieved its independence from the Ottoman Empire (1870s). This meant that the country could reorient itself towrd Christian Europe amd modernity. Fshion was one part of this pfricess. At the time, it was still fairly common in the West to dress younger boys in dresses and other skirted garments. Given the long era of Ottoman control, Western fashion was still not widely worn in Bulgria at the time the country achieced its independemce (1870s).

Chronology

It took some time for Western garments to become well-established in Bulgaria along with Western fashion conventions. It began with the educated and wealthy and gradually spread to the middle- and finally working-classes. And finlly to the rural peasantry. All of this of course began in the cities. Change was much sloweer in the less fashion-concious countryside. And by the time Western fashions were well-estblished after World War I, the convention of dressing younger boys in skirted garments was declining. Thus we are unsure to what extent it was prevalent in Bulgaria. Our small Bulgrian archive provides only limited information. We simply do not have the needed imagery to follow Bulgarian trends as we do for many other European countries. We do see some boys in wealthy families wearing fashonable skirted garments in the late-19th century. And this includes even small towns as we see here (figure 1). We are not yet sure about middle-class families. We seen very young boys wearing dresses after Workd War I in the inter-war and World War II era. We do not know how common this was. We hope to deal with this topic more adequately as HBC's archive grows.

Ages

Garment Types

In our small Bulgarian archive we find few examples of boys wearung skirted garments. We notice mostly dresses and tunics. Bulgaria was not liberated from the Ottoman Turks until the late-19th century. And this is when we first begin to see Wesrern dress to any extent. A problem here is that the Ottoman Empire was very backward, especially in terms of technology. Photography was one of the many technologicalm areas where the Ottomans lagged behind. As a result we have very little photographic evidence until Bulgaria became a defacto independent country (1878). But most of the early images we have found come from the early-20th century. And by that time the centuries old comvention of younger boys wearing skirted garmebnts had largely passed, although the tunic was a popular garment for boys (1900-20). As far as we can tell, however, in Bulgaria this was a style only worn by relatively well to do Buklgarian boys from families that could aford fashionable clothes. While we have found some images, but only of the dressy tunuic suits. We do not see any Bulgarian boys wearing the play tunics that were also popular in America at the time. After World War I in the 1920s we no longer see tunics. The boy on the main Bulgarian page wears a mix of items. He wears a tunic with a lace collar and pantalettes. Also notable is his long waved hair and a large hair bow. Here we see a boy weith his mother. He wears a long, jacketed sailor dress with close-cropped hair about 1900 (figure 1). We see a few boys wearing dresses even after World War I in the inter-War era, but not very many.

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Created: 6:26 PM 6/11/2016
Last updated: 1:15 AM 10/18/2023