Figure 1.-- We see girls wearing shorter skitts after Empire styles began to deline in popularity (1920s). At first girls wore pantalettes along with their ong stockings. Long pantalettes disappeared at mid-century,but long stockongs were standard. Girls wore hem lines below their knee with actual lengths avrying by age. This cabinet portrait is undated, but we would guess was taken in the 1870s. The girls wear dresses with hems below the knee. Also notice the lace collars. We do nor se boys commonly wearing lace collars in the 70s. Notice the boy who looks to be about 11 years old wears a long pants suit.

Hem lines are on of the major dress varitions over time. They can be helpful in dating images, although hm lengths were fairly tandad over long period, especially during the 19th century. The length of the hem was fairly constant n the 19th century. We see both girls and adult ladies with long dresses doen to their shoes. Dress lengths for ladies pertty much stayed there through the end of the century. Hem for girls, however, began to rise. At first girls wore long stockings to cover their legs so exposed. Over time pantalettes became shorter and the long stockings were deemed adequate for mnodesty sake. The length of thehem was determined by the chid's age. They began to grow longer in the teen years. American girls virtually always wore long stockings with dresses. In Europe we see some younger girls wearing socks. This was much rarer in America. We see hemlines becoming much shorter in the 20th century, especially after World War I. Hem lines varied from just below he knee to well above the knee. We see younger girls wearing short skirt in the 1930s and commonly with socks rather than long syockings. Shirley Temple movies are good examples of these styles. Hem lines were especially shortin the 1970s. Girls including teenagers wore mini-skirts and short dresses. We note all kinds of hosiery, including tiggts. We see somewhat longer hems in the 1980s and greater variety of hem lines.

Created: 2:49 AM 12/28/2012
Last updated: 1:19 AM 1/1/2017