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boys' dresses : national styles -- United States of America chronology 1900s
American Boy Dresses: Chronology--The 1900s
Figure 1.--This cabinet card pprtrat shows a little boy named Clare with his aunt. Clare looks to be about 2 years old. He wears a basic checked dress with box pleats, but trimmed with Fauntleroy ruffles. Clare at the time was a name that was used for both boys and girls. There is writing on the back with the aunt's name, but it is difficult to read. The portrait is undated, but the mount suggests the 1900s. The studio imprint is was F.S. Hooker, but the studio is not indicated. Click on the image to see the writing on the back. Let us know if you can make it out.
Younger boys still wore dresses at the turn-of-the 20th century, but the popularity of this convention was rapidly declining, a process which was notably observable by the mid-1890s. We see a substantial decline in boys wearing dresses at the end of the 19th century and this declined continued into the early-1900s. Most of the boys we see boys wearing dresses done in obviously boy styles. This meant fairly simple styles, although Fauntleroy trim might be added. We are unsure just why popular conventions began changing at this time and why it changed so rapidly. We think that both the popularity of Fauntleroy suits and kilt suits may have been factors. We still see boys wearing dresses in the 1900s, especially the early-1900s, but much less so than in the 1890s. They also tended to be younger boys or perhaps fewer boys from the upper end of the age group which commonly wore dresses. We notice shorter hems in the 1900s. A good example is Lincoln Muenks about 1905 who looks to be wearing a plaid dress. We also see Bert Cross wearing a low-waisted dress. He was 2 years old. Another example is Harold Howes in 1903. Another example of a younger boy is Malcomb Overbagh who looks to be abour 2 years old. We have another boy here wearing a checked dress with Fauntleroy trim and box pleats (figure 1). We notice 4-year old Wayne Mayo wearing a bright plaid dress in 1903. We are unsure about social class and demographic factors. We had thought that boys wearing dresses would be primarily from the upper class and affluent middle class. Interestingly we see a number of boys from more modest-income families wearing dresses. We think this may have been most common from rural areas. A good example is a Texas family, we think about 1905. We are not sure how to explain this.
Younger boys still wore dresses at the turn-of-the 20th century, but the popularity of this convention was rapidly declining, a process which was Already notably observable by the mid-1890s. We see a substantial decline in boys wearing dresses at the end of the 19th century and this declined continued into the early-1900s. We still see boys wearing dresses in the 1900s, especially the early-1900s, but much less so than in the 1890s. A factor here is that while we see fewer boys wearing dresses in the 1890s, especially after about 1895, but kilt suits were still fairly common in the 1890s, by the turn-of-the 20th century, the kilt suit very rapidly went out of style. We are not entirely sure whu this long standing convention so rapidly disappeared, but we still see a few examples in the photographic record during the 1900s albeit almost exclusively very young boys.
Styles
Most of the boys we see boys wearing dresses done in obviously boy styles. This meant fairly simple styles, although Fauntleroy trim might be added. We notice shorter hems in the 1900s. A good example is Lincoln Muenks about 1905 who looks to be wearing a plaid dress. We also see Bert Cross wearing a low-waisted dress. He was 2 years old. We have another boy here wearing a checked dress with Fauntleroy trim and box pleats (figure 1). This dresses has more decoration than was common for the boy dresses we note in the 1900s.
Causes
We are unsure just why popular conventions began changing at this time and why it changed so rapidly. We think that both the popularity of Fauntleroy suits and kilt suits may have been factors.
Age trends varied from family to family. Boys were breeched before beginning school at age 6 years. By this time public educatiin was establishedd beginning at age 6 years in first grade. Some children began kindergarten at age 5 years. We see younger and younger boys wearing dresses. But as this was a family decesion we do still see a few older boiys including 4 anf 5-year olds. The boys also tended to be younger boys or perhaps fewer boys from the upper end of the age group which commonly wore dresses. Any older boys wearing dresses would have had to be boys being educated at home. And this would have been a small mumber. One compolication here are tunics shichg were very popular in the 1900s. We do see simewhat older biys wrearing them, but as far as we can tell not ti school. An example is Harold Howes in 1903. Another example of a younger boy is Malcomb Overbagh who looks to be about 2 years old. We notice 4-year old Wayne Mayo wearing a bright plaid dress in 1903. We also see two unidentified cherboard biys that look to ve about 2-5 years old.
