Figure 1.--These two siblings lokk to be about 4-8 years old. They wear identical or very similar dresses totaly unsuitable for children. We are unsureabout the color. The portrait is undated, but looks to have been taken in the late-1890s. The studio was Kimball in Westfield, Pennsylvania. Photograpohers in such a small town shows how widespread photography had become.

Fancy dresses were popular in the second hals of the 19th century. The classic Empire style dress was vrry plain and popular in the eearly-19th century. By nid century dresses could not have been more different. They were becoming much mor voluminous. They easily require twice as much material. And they were becoming fancier and more havily secorated. Biys abd girls wore similar dresses in the early-19th century. By the end of th century boys wearing dresses generally wore plainer styles. The fancier dresses were seen as more os a sinctkly girls style. But this was all up to mother. This we see some biys wearing these voluinous, fancy styles like their sisters when mother opted for identical outfits. Almost always these decusions were made by mother when the girls and younger boys were involved. Genrrally spoeaking the girls sdresses ere not as fancy as mothers, but we see some that were amasingly voluminous an heavily decorated for children.

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Created: 7:54 AM 4/25/2021
Last updated: 7:54 AM 4/25/2021