Figure 1.-- Boys and girls wore a variety of light weight, usually cotton materials. Before the invention of air conditionig, a light weight summer dress could be a very compfortable outfit, although we note somne were worn with long stockings. Gingham seems to have been a popular light-weight material for dresses. Ginham was often done in a checked or other pattern. We are not entirely sure what the make of this portrait. On the back there is some writing: '1894' and 'Frank 11 years', written at different times. By 1894 it was unsual to see even younger school age boys still wearing dresses, let alone an 11-year old.. We were not sure what he has in his hand. Whateve it is, it seems to match his dress. Perhaps Frank was a nick name for a girl, but the child certainly looks like a boy. A reader tells us, "My daughter assures me that this is a 'reticule'. This was a young girl's 'drawing room' handbag. It was in what the young ladies of the day kept their necessaries - glasses, hankerchiefs, handwork etc. It was an indoor accessory. My daughter pointed out that if you look carefully at the image you see it has loops with bows, at each of the top corners of what is essentially a bag. The boy is holding it by one loop. The other is hanging free. At the bottom of this bag there is a small oblong shaped item therein. I am not sure what an 11-year old boy would need, but his garment certainly wouldn't have pockets."

Boys and girls wore a variety of light weight, usually cotton materials. Before the invention of air conditionig, a light weight summer dress could be a very compfortable outfit, although we note somne were worn with long stockings. Gingham seems to have been a popular light-weight material for dresses. Ginham was often done in a checked or other pattern. Cotton voile was another popular fabric. We also note white dresses, although we are not sure about the material. We see quite a few American boys wearing white or light-colored dresses, it is sometimes difficukt to differentiate in black and whote portraits. We also note what look like prints on light-colored dresses. The summer dreesses often had open necks as well as short sleeves. Both boys and girls wore these light-weight dresses. As far as we can tell the styles were similar for both boys and girls.

Created: 3:46 AM 9/13/2007
Last updated: 1:57 AM 11/27/2024