Figure 1.--This is Amy May Crouch. She was 7 years old when her portrait was taken in Ontario during 1880. She was born, however, in Rochester, New York. If Amy was not identified, we might have thought she was a boy with her sjort hair cut. Notice the low waistline. The center part, flowery hat, and bracelet all suggest that the child is a girl. Notice the stripped stock.

Girls in the 19th century mostly wore dresses, sometimes with pinafores and smocks. You never see girls wearing boyish garments. The styles of the dresses varied quite a bit in the 19th century. Dresses in the early 19th century were very plain, clasical styles. White dresses with high bodices that fell straight down to the ankles were very common. Mothers and girls wore similar styles. By the 1920s we see greater use of color, but this began to be muted by the 1840s in line with Victorian modesty. Gradually hem lines rose, although for many years girls would wear pantalettes to cover their legs. Our knowledge of early-19th century styles are quite limited, but with the invention of photography we know much more about styles in the second half of the century. By the 1860s, large numbers of images become available. We see dressed that billowed out, supported ny hoop skirts as well as little additions behind the waist. After mid-century dress styles began to be increasingly fancy and could be quite elabotate by the end of the century. Both boys and girls sore dresses in the 19th century, although by the lsate 19th century boy dresses were plainer than girl dresses and after about 1895 the practice of dressing younger boys in dresses began to rapidly decline.

The 1800s

Girls wore dresses based on the classical styles. After Napoleon became emperor styles shifted from democratic Greece and Republivan Rome to Imperial Rome. Straight falling white or pastel muslim dresses were fashionable. Dresses were long. Girls' dresses were slightly shorter than women's dresses and the short distance from ankle to dress hem were covered by pantalettes.

1800s: Long dresses: Irish girls

1803: Long white Empitre dress: French girl

1805: Long white dresses: English girls

1807: Long white Empire dress: French girl

1809: Long white Empire dress: Spanish girl

The 1810s

This era is call the Empire (for Napoleon's Empire) in France and the Regency (for the Pribce of Wales' regencey for his father George III) in England. Despite the fact that England and the rest of Europe were fighting the French, fashions (especially girl' andcwomens fashions) were strongly influenced by France. Women and girls wore long white dresses with pantalettes. The styles were looesly based on Roman Empire influences.

1810s: Regency dress: English brother and sister recreation

1813: Austrian family: Women and girls

1815: Empire dresses and pantalettes: Family of Lucien Bonaparte

1810s: Regency dresses: English children (date rough estimate)

The 1820s

Regency styles were still in full swing in England during the 1820s. Girls still commonly wore long white dresses, but now the waistline was clearly defined. One source suggests to us that dresses began to be back buttoning in the 1820s. We are not yet convinced that this was the case. We note many dresses before the 1820s that do not appear to us to be front opening. But there are ways to hide this and not to have buttons visible. The front opening was handy for nurseing mothers. There may have been differences for children clothing and formal dresses.

1825: Long empire dresses and skeleton suit: Aristocratic French family

1829: Long white dress: English family

The 1830s

The 1830s were a transitonal era in dress design. The simple high-wasted Empire dress with baloon sleeves of the early 19th century began to go out of fashion in the 1820s. Dresses in the 1830s began to show a hint of the more pronounced hour-glass dresses of the 1850s. The 1830s were the last decade before Queen Victoria who rose to the throne in 1838. The 1830s was also the last decade of the more open erly 19th century. The Voctoian era of the 1840s was an incresing restrictions on women who were relegated to the home and expected to defer to her husband. Thi was reflectd in the increasingly restrictive fashions which became more pronounced in he 1840s as the Victorian era unfolded. As a transitiuonal era there were no clearly pronounced recognizable style associatd with the 1830s, but rather a gradual shift between the two more easily recognizable earlier and later styles and eras. We still see some dresses in the 1830s with low necklines and baloon sleeves. Children still wore long dresses at the beginning of the decade. Pantalettes were commonly worn as hemlines rose to just below the knee by thge end of the decade. The Biedermeier style was important in Austria. We note girls with ringlet curls.

The 1840s

Bonnets were important in the 1840s. Some had deep brims which could be used to almost hide the face. Women wore floor-length dresses with bell-shaped skirts. There were various styles of collars, but most tended to be white. The sleeves on dresses varied, but were often narrow. The dress bodices tended to be long and tight with buttons to close in the back. Under their dresses were mumerous layers of petticoats. Women also wore constrictive corsets to create a more narrow waistline. A popular garment worn over the dress was an elbow-length cape referred to as a pelerine. A popular adornment was a ribbon around the neck as well as at the waistline. Prosperous women might add a gold watch on a gold chain or black cord. Girls wore shorter-length dresses, but with ankle-length pantlettes covering their legs. Neck ribbons were less common for girls, but waist ribbons on their dresses were very common. Some dresses ha open necklines without collars. Girls lokes their mothers wore might wear layers of ptticoats. Center hair parts were very common for women and girls often with the hair drawn back covering the ears. Girls often instead of having the hair drawn back might have ringlets curls of varying length.

The 1850s

Girls might wear a kind of cap indoors, but always put on bonnets when going outdoors. Bonnets styles tended to be more open than in the 1840s. Women and girls wore enormous dresses with skirts held out by crinolines. Necklines could be quite low. Dresses were often plain one-piece garments with slightly lower waists. Women wore more open necklines and wider collars. Fashionable wide collars were worn in a more comfortable looking down on the shoulders style rather than upright as had been fashion in the 1840s. Bishop sleeves became very popular as well as front opening bodices. Plain bodices were common, often with long darts at the sides, rather a military look. Dress skirts tended to be wider and more decorative than in the 1840s. While dress bodicies hanged significantky, the skirt length did not change. The basic style for women continued to be floor-length dresses, although the skirts were wider than in th 1840s. This wide look was enhanced by the hooped skirt which appeared in the mid-1850s and began to replace the multiple layers of petticats that before had helped build us the voluminous skirts. A few fashionable younger women experimented with "Bloomers" or a short skirt over ankle-length Turkish trousers, a style somewhat related to the shorter dresses and pantalettes still worn by girls. Pantalettes in the 1850s were worn above the ankle, commonlyat calf-level. Women began using shorter cotsets. Womwn began wearing their hair with broad loops just above their ears, but by the end of the decade the loops were less defined and more commonly covered the ear. We also notice girls with ringlet curls. Girls commonly had center parts.

The 1860s

Conventions for mourning became much more elaborate in the 1860s acontinued through the rest of the century. The death of Prince Albert (1861), Queen Victoria's husband was an important factor here as she went into permanent mourning. We note silk dresses in black and and black and a dark color (like lavender/mauve) for full and half-mourning even for young girls. Girl's dresses continued to parallel adult styles with the exception of shorter skirts. Young girls would have dresses well above the ankels and very young girls might have kneelength dresses worn with pantalettes. Plaid dresses were popular--another Victorian influence. We notice puffed overskirts and more decorative attention focused on the back of the garment than in previous decades. This appears to be a transitional fashion between the hoop skirt of mid-century and the bustle of the 1870s and 80s. The hem of this dress would have been well above the ankes of the wearer. Shorter skirts were one of the distinctions between adult and children’s fashions in the nineteenth century.

The 1870s

Womem's dress styles tended to change substantiallyat mid-decade. We are not entiurelky sure why. Women in the early 1870s wore their dresses with a rear bustle on the skirt. The sides of the dress skirt were drawn in thus giving a wide appearance from the front and a narrow appearance from the side. Corsets were still commonly used. The short corset worn at the beginning of the decade grew longer at the end of the decade. High dress waistlines were fashionable early in the decade, but became longer. At the same time a new style of two-piece dresses became very fashionable. Women wore outfits with with a sometimes long jacket-like bodice with a seperate skirt. Many jackets extended well below the waisline. The jacket bodices varied widely. Some were worn closed with buttons down the front, others style had open fronts. Often a different material ws used for the jacket so that it contrasted with the skirt. Normally a darker color was used for the jacket than the skit. Detailing included the extensive use of pleating and ruffles. Women began wearing their hair higher. Women might wear black velvet neck ribbons, often with a brooch at the front and tied in the back with a small bow.

The 1880s

Women wore dresses that had bodices with a more hour-glass shape. The sleeve and shoulders beginning to rise (which blossom into the huge shoulders of the 90s). The front of skirt loose the more involved drapery of the 70s, but acquire the heavy ornamentation of the 80s. Trains do not have the fishtail of the mid- to late-70s. The sleeves are set in at the shoulder. Hair styles are often small and close set. Girl's wore dresses with straight bodices, dropped waists and plain round skirt--a hallmark 1880s style. Both women and girls wore bustles. Girls sailor dresses and dresses with sailor styling increase in popularity. Wide-brimmed sailor hats are even more common. Girls bangs have a destinctive style. Pinafores are very commonly worn over dresses at home and to school. Long stockings become common, especially for older gils.

The 1890s

The corseted 'hourglass' look was very fashionable. Women's dresses had destinctive mutton-leg sleeves which become increasingly pronounced. The fashion sensation of the day was the shirtwaist. Instead of the voluminous dresses with hoop skirts or bustles as in earlier decades, young women began wearing comfortable cotton shirt waists and simole skirts, well above the ground. This was at the time a liberating look and the struggle for women's sufferage began in earnest in the 1890s. The look was imporalized by artist Charles Dana Gibson and his Gibson girls. Dana especially liked drawing them in shirtwaists. It is possible to date the style with considerable perscission, although of course not every women wore the latest fashion. Dress and shirtwaist sleeves at the beginning of the decde tended to be tight around the arm, but at the shoulder small, vertical, puff became popular. Lerger puffs extending to the upper arm appeared in 1892. Even wider puffs were used in 1893. The puff continued to grow in 1894-95.and becomes stiffer. The largest puffs were notted in 1896. Women's dress sleeves by 1897 had become quite narrow once more with only a light puff at the shoulder. Sleeves by 1898 were quite long and tight with a well rounded puff high up on the shoulder. Of coursre another complication was that other dress styles worn, not every woman wore dresses with puff sleeves. Another popular style was bishop sleeves. Shirtwaists became popular. Outfits had a full look in front, using both pleats or puffs. Older gils wore the tailor-made two-piece outfis with blouses.

Created: 6:13 AM 4/27/2007
Last updated: 1:12 AM 6/29/2017