Figure 1.--This CDV shows an unidentified American girl and her little brother in the 1860s. She wears a blouse and skirt. Notice the ruffled trim aroujnd the neck and absence of a collar. The skirt is very full, probably worn with a hoop was was common in the 1860s.

Other skirted garments girls wore included skirts. Skirts became a major style for girls and are still widely worn. The skirt was not a child's garment. We note adult women wearing them as well, but they seem more common for girls, st least in the 20th cntury. We are not sure about the chronology of skirts as opposed to dresses. We have onlhy limited information about the early-19th century befire the invention of photogrphy. And even in the mid-19-century our informstion is limited. We uspdct that girl commoknly wore skirts ay mid-century, uforyunately we do not yet have sufficnt imagery gto confirm this. . Only with the CDV do we have sufficent umages to confirm this (1860s). We see girls wearing skirts in the 1860s. The unidentified girl here is a good example (figure 1). We see another girl wearing a skirt in an 1860s family portrait. In fact, they seem more common at mid-century than the late-19th century. And we see girls commonly wearing patterned blouses with patterned skirts. By the late-19th century, the comvention of plain, light colored skirts seems much more common. We see fewer skirts in the photogrphic record in the late-19th century. But this may be becuse with rising affluenve, hirks dressed up more for studiomportraits and this we see mostly dresses. The length of the skirts varied, both chronologically as a result of stlistic changes and by age. Most skirts in the 19th century were not pleated. After vthe turn of the 20th century, pleated skirts become more popular. Pleated plaid skirts became popular in the 20th century. Many schools adopted them as a school unifirm, but many girls wore them even not as a uniform grment .

Created: 2:42 AM 5/22/2010
Last updated: 10:24 PM 6/20/2021