Figure 1.-- Here we note two pre-school Massachusettes boys wearing dresses, we think in the 1870s. The two dresses are styled differently. They look like A-frame dresses wihout waistlines. The fabric nd decoration wa different. We are unsure if age conventions were involved. The strped stockings suggest the 1870s, but the lace collaer probanly means the lte-70s or early-80s. The boys look to be about 3-6 years old. The studio was J.H. Bostwick in Bristol, Pennsylvania.

Dresses and other skirted garments continue to be very common for younger boy. And the very extensive photographic record provides us a detailed look at the garments and styles involved. Dating 1870s dresses, at least for boys is very difficult. It is not always posible to dated undated images, but mounts, decorative itens, and hosiery are very useful. Some mothers beginning aboout the 1870s dressed very young boys in dresses and slightly older boys in kilt suits. This was a popular convention, but we also notice some olders boys wearing dresses as well. There was not set rule and decessions like this were up to each individual mother. And to futther complicate the issue, we see boys wearing jeaketed dresses looking somewhat like kilt suits. Some of these outfits are a little difficult to identify as we are often not sure if the boy is wearing a blouse and skirt or a dress with a belted waistline. We note some boys wearing smocks, but this was not very common. We note two pre-school Massachusettes boys wearing dresses, we think in the 1870s (figure 1). The two dresses are styled differently, but we are unsure if age conventions were involved. We also see quite a few boys wearing fashionable tunics. The fashion writers in Harper's Bazaar provided some advice to mothers about boys' dresses and kilts--"Small boy's clothes" (1877).

Economic Developments

The industrial expansion of the United States began in the mid-19th century and by thec1870s was fully underway along with the immiogration of huge numbers of European immigrants. The populated the expanding frontier with family farms hsnks to the Homesread Act (1863). They also filled the jobs created by the rapidly expandung industry in the growing cities. America was still a largely agicultural country with most of the population living on the far. In eachdecade, hiower, more and more of the population was living in cities. The United States was a huge country and the populatinn in rural areas had only limited access to manufactured goods and fashionsble clothing. The United States, however in the 1870s created the lsrgest masrkert in the world. This was done by the rapidly expanding railroads, which unlike river transoort had reached every major city and many small towns. The Continental Railway was completed (1869) and in thec 1870s the American rail system was built out creating the huge American market which even toddy continues to be a huge force in the world economy. Not only was the American market huge, but the American consumer was the most affluent in the world. The major reason that Europeans flooded into America is that workers and farmers earned more than in any other country. As a result unlike other countries not only could the upper and middle classes affiord fashionble clothing, butalso part of the wirking class. An imprtant part of building this hige market was the mailoeder catalog--aphenomenom began by Montgomery Wards taking asdvantage iof the expanding rail system (1870s). .

Photography

The aklbumen processing system appeared in Ameruica (1860s) and rapidly replaced Dags and Ambros. The first format was the CDV, buv by the 1870s the major fornmat was the larger cabinet card. This brought down the cost of a studio portrait to levels tht most Americans could affird. Even so much of what we see is portraits of the upper- and middle-classes. Not only could they better aford the cost, but they could zafford more studio portraits. Thus we need to bear in mind that there was a significant social-class bias in the photograohic record.

Garments

Dresses

Younger boys continued to commonly wear dresses in the 1870s. We think just about all boys as toddlers wore dresses, but the age of breeching varied. Here social class was a factor. We notice boys wearing a wide range of different dress styles. As far as we can tell the dress styles worn by boys and girls were essentially the same. We do not yet have a lot of specific stylist details. We note a range of patterns used for dresses. The children here seemed to be wearing a gingham or checked dress. Color is a more difficult topic because of the black and white photography of the day. We can tell that white dresses were popular for younger children. We are less sure about the colors used. The age of breeching varied, but it was commonly at about 4-5 years of age. There were substantial differences from family to family. Boys also wore other skirted garments like kilt suits. These were skirted garments that girls did not wear. We think that boys wearing kilt suits may also have worn dresses as well. We are not positive about this, but it seems rather plauasible. But we would like to know if boys wre dresses and kilts rather than instead of kilts. We tend to notice slightly older boys wearing kilt suits rather than dresses, but there was considerable variation. Perhaps readers will have some insight here. We notice two Muncie boys, probably in the 1870s, wearing identical white dresses. Some mothers dressed their children in identical or coordinated outfits. Not all parents did this. It varied substantially from family to family. It was, however, a popular convention. White seems to have been a popular choice.This meant that the younger children might all wear identical dresses. Other parents dressed the boys and girls differently.

Kilts/Kilt Suits

Kilts were not just a Scottish garment. We see kilts being worn in England, America, and other countries, mostly British Empire countries. The best know Scottish kilt outfit is the Highland kilt outfit. We see some examples in America, England , Canada, and other countries, but not very many. And some of this was fancy dress. For other occaasions there was fancy dress for younger boys. There was onetype of kilt outfit that was very common in America -- the kilt suit this became a major style for American boys during much of the second half of the 19th century. We see a few in the 1850s and more in 60s. But by the 1870s, the kilt suit had become a major style for boys. There are countless examples in the photographic record. There were sicial class connottions. It was a style popular among middle- and upper-class boys, much less common for working-class familess. And by the 1870s we begin to see fewer boys wearing dresses. But that does not mean fewer boys were wearing skirted garments becuse many boys whonearlier might have worn dresses werre now wearing kilt suits like we see here (figure 1). Some of the kilt suits were done with fabric that used tartan fabric, or tartan looking, but most were done with either very muted tartan patterns or no tartan fabric whatsoever. At the time, few Americans actually knew what a kilt was And most who had heard of Scottish kilts were unaware that ther therr were differences between kilts and skirts. As a result, what we see being worn as part of kilt suits are often more skirts than real kilts. Few mothers were bothered with the diiference even if thety were awar of it.

Skirts

Tunics

We seem to find fewer images of boys wearing tunic suits during the 1870s, at least in the photographic record. Our information is limited, but the photographic record probably is a resonable ibdicator of actual trends. We think that the tunic suits were generlly a style populasr with urban elites. We notice considerable variation in designs. A popular deign was a diagonal design element. A reader writes, "You can see these diagonal front cuts of the jackets conciderably often in the 1870s." Tunic suits mostly came with a belt or other waistline device to create a defined waisline. We are not entirely sure why this was. We think the belt and other waistline feature was seen as military feature. We note both large leather belts as well as modest cloth devices which emulated a belt. One major stylistic element is the length of the tunic skirt. Some of the tunic skirts were so short that they were barely recognizeable as tunics. The Missouri boy here is a good example (figure 1). Other boys had tunics with quite pronounced skirts.

Created: 8:08 AM 12/16/2014
Last updated: 6:26 PM 4/10/2023