*** boys' dresses : national styles -- United States problem








American Boy Dresses: Assessment Problems

assessing gender old photographs
Figure 1.--We have a major problem in assessing dresses worn by boys in that so many of the old photgraphs available are not identified. Thus we have no way of knowing if the child photographed is a boy or girl. Here we are not at all sure. All we know about this child for sure is that the portrait was taken in New York, probably in the 1880s.

We have a major problem in assessing dresses worn by boys in that so many of the old photgraphs available are not identified. Thus we have no way of knowing if the child photographed is a boy or girl. This really complicates our ability to understand the trends. Many of the portraits provide clues that are useful in making educated guesses. Props can be helpful, but are not definitive. Hair styles are also helpful, but some boys had long hair and some girlds short hair.Other photographs have no clues what so ever. We are left to assess the faces which is problematic at best.

Figure 1: (New York, 1880s)

We have a major problem in assessing dresses worn by boys in that so many of the old photgraphs available are not identified. Thus we have no way of knowing if the child photographed is a boy or girl. Here we are not at all sure. All we know about this child for sure is that the portrait was taken in New York, probably New York City (figure 1). We would date it to the 1880s

Figure 2: (Springfield, Ohio, 1880s)

This is another unidentified portrait. All that is know is that the portrait was taken in Springfield, O. The O probaly stands for Ohio. We would estimate it was taken in the 1880s. The child looks to be about 10-11 years old and is wearing a dress with a full skirt. There is fancy velvet wotk at the shoulders. The age of the child suggests a girl. The face looks a little boyish anf the child has short hair. The hair is much shorter than that of most girls, but the the hair ciut without a part does not look quite right for a boy. Perhaps readers have some insights.

Figure 3: Unidentified Siblings (Unknown Location, early 1890s)

This American cabinent card shows two unidentified siblings. They sure look alike, and even have ears that stick out in the same way. It is a nice, up close portrait that allows great view of details The boy gas a floppy silk bow and cwears a collsr buttoning jacket with sime Nofolk styling. The girl has a lace collar and a decorative dress with velvet sleeves and rounded lace collar. Seen alone we might have thought the older child was a boy, although at that age the children in dresses were mostly girls. We know the child is a girl of course because her little brither has alreasy been breeched. It is a good example as to how short hair can mislead people trying o identified the subjects. The porreait is undated but the perforated edges (pinking) and snooth corners suggest the early 1890s.

Figure 4: (Cincinatti, Ohio--1890s)

This unidebtified child certainly looks like a boy. The cabinet portrait was made in the Cincinnati, Ohio studio of Weckmau (indistinct). The child is wearing a fashionabe plaid dress. Plaid was a popular pattern for boys' dresses. The dress has large baloon shoulders with contrasring black sleeves and hem. The portrait is undated, but we thouught it might have been taken in the 1880s. The dress style, however, looks more like the 1890s. That was rather old for a boy to still be wearing dtress, but certainly not unknown at the time for well-to-do boys being schooled at home. The child looks about 7-8 years old. While he appears to be a boy, the flower basket is confusing. That is usually a prop for a girl. A nother who would keep a boy in dresses this long, however, might just choose a flower basket. Without an inscription, there is now way to be sure and some girls fid have very short hair.

Figure 5: Unidentified Boy (Unknown location, 1870s)

This portrait like most tin-type portraits is unidentified. The child looks to be about 4-5 years old. The dealer describes it as a "tintype photo of a cute little boy wearing a fancy dress, nicely posed. It measures 2 1/4" wide by 3 1/2" tall." We are not convinced it was a boy. The child's hair is relatively short. The center hair part and bracelets seem to suggest a girl to us. The child wears a front buttoning dress. We are not sure if gender conventions wee involved here. Dating the image is a little easier. The white stockings and CDV-size suggest the late-1860s or early-70s to us. The dress was done without a defined waist. This appears to be a outdoor portrait, we think perhaps done by an itinerant photographer. If so it is one of the earliest we have archived on HBC.

Figure 6: Unidentified child (Hudson, New York--1860s)

This unidentified child was photographed at the Forshew studio in Hudson New York. The portrait is undated, but from the style of the poise and backgriund as well as the white stickings was almost certinly taken in the 1860s. While the child is unidentified, we think the child is probably a boy. The basic indicator here is the hair. Girls generally had center parts. The hair seems to have had some short ringlets. A girl might have a style like this, but the destinctive side part was not very common for girls. The low neckliknes like the dress here were worn by both younger boys and girls in the 1860s. We think iy was most common for pre-school children. The child here looks about 5 years old.

Figure 7: Unidentified child (Harlem, New York--1880s)

Here we note a cabinet card portrait of an unidentified child wearing a light-colored jacketed dress with velvet lapels. There is a large front ribbon. The child looks to be about 8 years old. It is undated, but the clothing and mount style suggests the 1880s. The dealer suggests that the child was a boy. Lokking at the face, this could be, but we are not sure. As in many cases we have few definative clues. The primary element that we can use is the hair style, bangs cut low close to the eye brows. Hair is often an important clue. Length can be misleading. While boys commonly had short hair and girs long hair, there are plenty examples of just the opposite. Center parts commonly indicate a center part. We are not yet sure about the gender connotations of bangs. An interesting aspect of this portarit is that the portrait was taken in the Harlem studio of Aimé Dupont, a French-born sculptor who went bankrupt in Paris and moved to New York in 1884 to open what proved to be a successful photography studio. Dupont was renowned for his photos of opera singers and Broadway stars, and this photo does provide a possibly important clue. The child is resting his elbow on a copy of the Works of William Shakespeare, which in turn lies on a table covered by a Persian rug. At the time scholarship and education was more associated with men and boys. Other than the bangs which we do not fully understand, this is a strong clue that the child is a boy. Most boys had been breeched by age 8-8 years of age. There were, however, plenty of exceptions and a boy growing up in an artistic, literary, theatrical community and educated at home might well have been kept in dresses by an adoring mother.

Figure 8: Unidentified children (Eureka, Kansas--1880s?)

Here we have an unidentified Kansas family, the parents and three children. The he two older childrn look to be about 5-8 years old. They wear identical, rather plain dresses with collar ruffs , except for some minor difference at the sleeve shoulder. Wehave no idea about the color. The older girl is obviously a girl. We are not sure about the other child. The fact that they wear identical dresses suggests that they are both girls. We are not, however, positive. We think the child has a boyish look. But with younger like this, there is no way to be sure. The portrait is undated. We would guess it was taken in the 1880s.

Figure 9: Unidentified Boy (Unknown location, early-1870s)

This small tintype shows an unidentified boy who looks to be anout 5 years old. The tintype is done to mimic the size of a CDV so it could fit in an albumn. We would guess the portrait was taken in the early-1870s. The boy look to be wearing an overcoat, but we believe that the outfit would have been seen a dress at the time. Overcoats ratrly had fancy white collars, byt dresses do not normally have buttond that continue into the skirt section. It looks to be a low-budget studio, but is not named nit the city indicated. We might have guess the late-60s, but has a fancy paper sleeve with rounded corners. The boy holds a flat-topped straw hat. mother seems to have guven a little attention to his hair. Written in the inside of the sleeve is the boy's name. It is a little difficult to read, but looks like H.N. Miller.

Figure 10: Unidentified Boy (Unknown location, 1870s)

This tin-type portrait shows an unidentified child wearing a plaid dress. As with tin-types, there is no writing on the back. It is undated, but e would giess it was tsken in the 1870s. So all we have to go on is the image itself. The child looks like a boy, but with younger children this can be misleading. And the bangs the child's hair is done in could be for a boy or girl. It is boys that usually had short hair, but girls could have short hair as well. The child looks to be about 7 years old. The dress is plaid and aather plain design with littke decoration, except for a large white collar in an Eton style. The collar gives a boyish look to the outfit. Collars like thast were not common with girls' dresses, but the purse is more associated with girls today. We are not entirely sure, however, about this at the time the portrait was taken.

Figure 11: Unidentified Children (Albert Lea, Minnesota--late-1890s)

This cabinet card shows a mother with two young children about 4-7 yeats old. The family is unidentified. The oldest child is a girl. We are not sure about the younger child, but we think he may be a boy. Te girl has pig tails the younger child long, uncurled hair. It is difficult to make out details in the white dresses the children are wearing, but they look to be identical with large ruffed collars. They are worn with pantalettes and or petticoats and long black stockings with high-top shoes. The only difference we note is the small bow the younger child is wearing. The portrait is undated, but the mother's dress, especially the balloon shoulder sleeves suggests the late-1890s decade as does the mount color. We see new colored mounts at the turn-of-the 20th century. The studio was Jense Brothers in Allbert Lea, Minnesota.






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Created: 1:35 AM 6/18/2007
Last updated: 12:58 AM 6/30/2023