Boy Dress Styles: American Boy (probably late 1860s)


Figure 1.--This image is undated, but we believe that it was taken in the late 1860s or early 70s. Notice the base of the stand behind the boy that helped to steady him for the portrait. Image courtesy of the RG collection.

This American portrait of an unidentified child was probably taken in the late- 1860s or 70s. The photographic studio was the Manchesten Bros., in Providence, Rhode Island. We are mot sure if he is wearing a dress or kilt suit. Note the front buttons. That was common in kilt suits. With dresses it was most common with boys. He has long hair which is losely done in ringlets. If the portrait had been taken in the 80s, tightly done ringlets wd have been more likely.

Chronology

This American portrait of an unidentified child was probably taken in the late-1860s ot 1970s. Notice the base of the stand behind the boy that helped to steady him for the portrait. This was almost a necessity with the slow film speeds of the 1860s. Also the studio background looks rather like the late-1860s. The white stockings were also common in the 60s.

Location

The photographic studio was the Manchesten Bros., in Providence, Rhode Island.

Identity

The child is unidentified. There is no way to be sure, but the child's face looks to be about 3-4 years old. We believe the child may be a boy. His face looks like a boy. The dress is rather plain, but in the 1860s there were often not significant differeces between the dresses worn by boys and girls in he 1860s. There were, however, some definite boyish touches here, such as the front buttoning jacket-like top of the dress. The clothes and hair style suggest an affluent family.

Props

The child is pictured with a book, but surely he is not old enough to read yet. We note that a book was a more common prop for a boy than girl.

Hair Styles

The boy wears riglet curls although they are very losely done. Had the portrait been taken laer, tightvringlets woyld have been more likely. We see hair like this more commonly in France than America. One ringlet in particular is quite long. Not all the ringletsare done into tight curls. There is a small colored hair bow. It looks like the generally small bows used for boys, but he 860s were before girlsbegan wearing large hair bows.

Clothes

The child wears what looks like a velvet dress. It may be an unusually styilized kikt suit or a jacketed dress. It may not be black, but a dark blue or burgandy. There is a small collar, a feature more common on boys' than girls' dresses. There isno bow, The dress appears to have a jacket like upper part which has front buttons. Both the jacket and skirt hem are scallopd. The jacket buttons are repeated on the skirt. Contrasing with the black dress are white long stockings.







HBC






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Created: December 15, 2002
Last updated: 10:23 PM 2/4/2012