Dresses for Boys during the Late-19th Century: Attitudinal Shift


Figure 1.-- Boys for 300-400 years wore dresses when they were little. Something happened in the late 19th century, especially the 1890s which proundly changed the attitudes of parents. Suddently this convention became a lot less common and only very young boys wore dresses. Here we see an undated portrait which was probably taken in the early 1890s. We note that the parents are breeching their boys at a fairly early age. The boy in the suit looks to be about 3 years old. The portrait was taken in Pueblo, Colorado. Perhaps boys in the big eastern cities were not breeched so early.

Boys for 300-400 years wore dresses when they were little. Something happened in the late 19th century, especially the 1890s which proundly changed the attitudes of parents. Suddently this convention became a lot less common and only very young boys wore dresses. We hope to eventually have a better idea as to precisely when this change occurred. At this time we are also not sure why this changed occurred. We notice a range of developments in the 1890s which may or may not have had an impact. At this time we are only able to list some of the developments in the 1890s which may have had some impact on the conventions for dressing little boys. We hope to eventually be able be able to assess their possible impact on children's clothing. The developments we think may have had an impact include: ruberized pants and laundry, public education, mass media, ready-made clothes, the women's movement, the Oscar Wilde trial, and the Fauntleroy craze. They may well have been other important developments which need to be added to this list. While we notice this shift in the United States, it appears to have occurred at about the same time in other countries, thus it seems likely that it was not a country specific development.







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Created: 8:48 AM 11/20/2005
Last updated: 8:48 AM 11/20/2005