Figure 1.--- This is a 1/4 plate tintyoe. The fat thst it was cased helps to date it to about 1860, priobablly the late-50s, but the early-60s is certainly possible. The boy is unidentified, but looks to be about 3 years old. As was common st the time, boys this age commonly wore dresse, stiil often styled just like their sisters' dresses. After mis-centurybwe bdegin to msee more boy-styled dresses. Notice how mother (it had to be mother) had him lift his skirt to show off his pantalettes which she may haveproudly sewed herself.

We commonly see pre-school age boys wearing dresses during the 19th century. The age of breaching varied, but was usually 3-5 years during the 19th century. The dresses we see until after mid-century look very similar to those their sisters were wearing. After mid-century the dress tend to have vzrioux boy touches. We mostly see 3 year olds wearing skirted garmnents, but toward the end of the century we see many boys even 3 years being breeched at 3 years of age. Here family conventions varied. Social class was a major factor affecting the age of breaching. This seem mist coimmin fir families in comfortable circumstances. This is a little difficult to follow in detail because the photographic record is biased toward the upper income demographic. Photographs beginning with the CDV (1860s) were not especially expensive, much kess thsn Dags and even Ambros. Even so they still cost, meaning they were less common with the lowser classes. This means a social class bias in the photograpohic record. Breeching was probably not as important as the age of cutting a boy's curls, but this too varied from family to family. The type of skirted garment was also a factor. After mid-cebntury, kilt suits began to become a major style for boys not yet breeched--especially for boys 3-5 years of age. Younger boys still wore dresses, but kilt suits became a kibd of intermediary style. And we see boys increasinhky being breeched beginning at about 3 years of age, This was especially true beginning about 1895.

Created: 12:43 PM 2/20/2021
Last updated: 12:43 PM 2/20/2021