Figure 1.--Here we see two unidentified girls from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The girls are presumabklyb sisters aged about 5-8b years old. Notice the low-cut necklines and only a hint of a sleeve with the girlm at the left. Women might wear dresses with low necklines fir firmaln events, but no longer foir every day wear. The pinting has been attributedc to Jacob Eicholtz (1776–1842). The portrait is undated, but was probably painted in the early-1820s.

The 1820s were a kind of transitional period in fashion. Empire fashions had dominated European fashion since the turn-of-the 19th century. The slim unadorned Empire silhouette with its Neoclassical origins began to give way to the more decorative Romanticism of the Antebellum era. Fashionable American women still followed European styles, especially French styles. Rather Gothic decoration began to appear on dresses and there were other borrowings from more recent past centuries. Especially notable was color. The stark white Empire dresses began to be replaced with layers of color. And the slim featureless Empire dress also disappeared to be followed by at first more emphasis on shapes and by the end of decade, exaggerated silhouette. The whale bone corset became a fashion necessity. And combined with whale oil whaling was becoming a major industry. The shift from Neoclassical plainness would remake 1820s dresses into platforms for dramatic display. And this is what occurred in girls' dresses, albeit on a more restrained level. Unlike boys who from the turn-of-the century had acquired styles specifically of their own--most notably the skeleton suit, girls still wore cut down versions of their mother's dress--with few alterations. The most important exception was skirt length. There were no distinctive styles for girls. Younger girls wore dresses, commonly without collars, but with low-cut necklines. Their dresses were often sleeveless or had short sleeves and the hemlines were usually shorter than those of adults. 【Buck, p. 66】 As the girls grew older the dress hems gradually lengthen until approaching that of adult women by the later-teens. Because the hemlines were shorter, their legs were modestly covered with long, narrow pantalettes, sometimes called drawers. Pantalettes were mostly white, but could be made in the same material as the dress. While pantalettes are basically undergarments, they were made to show, often from just below the knee to the ankle. They could be very decorative. Younger boys might wear the same style as their sisters until breeching some where between age 3-5 years, depending on the family.

Sources

Buck, Anne. Clothes and the Child: A Handbook of Children’s Dress in England, 1500-1900 (New York: Holmes & Meier, 1996). Buck's workmalso applies to America because American fashions were still dominated by European styles. Of course it needs to be mentiined that most Americans throught the 19th century, but especially the early-19th century still lived in rural areas and especially the boys had a rather remote connectiion to European fashions.

Created: 8:30 PM 3/2/2024
Last updated: 8:31 PM 3/2/2024