Figure 1.-The San Diego Historical Society has archived this boy's three-piece dress/suit. It was made of Wool flannel, cotton, silk velvet ribbon, and metal buttons. It was worn by Harry Danniel about 1862.

The San Diego Historical Society has archived that is boy's three-piece dress/suit. It was made of Wool flannel, cotton, silk velvet ribbon, and metal buttons. It was worn about 1862. The SDHS suggests that similar styles were shown in La Mode Illustré, a contemporary French fashion mafazine showing children's and women's fashions. The magazine began publishing in 1840 and circulated among fashionanle American women. Boys in the early 19th century wore dresses essentially the same as his sisters. In a large family, a young boy would have probably worn hand me downs from his older sisters. By mid-century, boys were still wearing dresses, but attempts began creating styles that were destinctly boyish. Military styling is a major fashion influence. Miliitary styling is a particularly umportant influence oin men and boys' clothing , but even girl's and women's clothing is also affected. Here the black embroidery and use of buttons awell as the stripe detailing is clearly inspired by military fashions. The outfit looks like an early kilt suit. There is clearly an attempt to differentiate this outfit from a dress. This style of jacket was commonly worn by younger boys in the 1860s-80s, often with a waistcoat as seen here. The jacket might be worn wiyh both skirts or trousers. In this case there is no attempt to make the matching skirt look like a kilt.

San Diego Historical Society

The San Diego Historical Society (SDHS) has archived that is boy's three-piece dress/suit. It was made of Wool flannel, cotton, silk velvet ribbon, and metal buttons. It was worn about 1862. The Society's description of the outfit reads, "It was worn by Harry Daniel, father of the donor. The suit includes a jacket with sewn-in vest, skirt and knickerbockers. An illustration from a French fashion magazine, La Mode Illustré, depicts a similar outfit described as a suit for a 3-5 year old boy in blue wool with black velvet trim. It was not unusual for boys to wear both pants and overskirts. Dresses were not considered inappropriate wear for boys. In fact, the decorative ribbon and button styling of the jacket reflects the influence of military uniforms."

Harry Danniel

We know that the boy who wore this skirted suit was Harry Danniel, but we know nothing more definitively about him. He apparently was born in the late 1850s. He either was born or raised in San Diego, although we are not positive about this.

La Mode Illustré

The SDHS suggests that similar styles were shown in La Mode Illustré, a contemporary French fashion mafazine showing children's and women's fashions. The magazine began publishing in 1840 and circulated among fashionanle American women.

Boys' Dresses

Boys in the early 19th century wore dresses essentially the same as his sisters. In a large family, a young boy would have probably worn hand me downs from his older sisters. By mid-century, boys were still wearing dresses, but attempts began creating styles that were destinctly boyish. Here the boy wears a jacket and button waistcoat in an outfit that is skirted, but not a dress. The military styling is also decidely boyish. We also note from the description that this was a three-piece suit with knickers, another boyish feature. This is not to say that boys did not also wear actual dresses, they did. The photogfraphic record suggests, however, that by the 1870s these skirted dress alterantives were increasingly common for boys.

Military Styling

Military styling is a major fashion influence. Miliitary styling is a particularly umportant influence oin men and boys' clothing , but even girl's and women's clothing is also affected. Here the black embroidery and use of buttons awell as the stripe detailing is clearly inspired by military fashions. The miklitary influence is most obvious in garments like coats and suits, but even on this skirted outfit it is very obvious. This suit was worn about 1862 which was during the American Civil War. The style reflected here seems more like the Napoleonic War than the Civil War. We do note some fancy uniforms for officers with similar styles at the beginning of the War.

Kilt Suit

The outfit looks like an early kilt suit. There is clearly an attempt to differentiate this outfit from a dress. This style of jacket was commonly worn by younger boys in the 1860s-80s, often with a waistcoat as seen here. The jacket might be worn wiyh both skirts or trousers. In this case there is no attempt to make the matching skirt look like a kilt. Subsequent klilt suits were often made in plaid material or muted checks of some kind of a material that might also be used for a boys kneepants suit.

Matching Knickerbockers

The SDHS mentions that this is a three-piece suit with knickerbockers. The knickerbockers are not shown. If this was a trur suit they would have been made in the same blue flannel material with matching trim. But the SDHS does not provide any details on this. Many boys wore similar outfits with whire pantalettes. This would have been up to the boy's mother.

Unidentified Child

We notice another America child photographed a few years later than Harry Danniel wore this outfit. There are many similarities between the outfits the two children wore.

Created: November 11, 2003
Last updated: November 11, 2003