Figure 1.--This English was child was from Bradford in Yorkshiere. The photographer was A & G. Taylor who had studios in several different cities. The portrait is undated, but was probably taken in the early 1880s. The child is unidentified, but looks to be a boy. Note that pantalettes here are being worn with white socks, although it is difficult to tell. Note the huge sash on the boy's dress.

The hosiery worn with pantalettes varied. We have noted children wearing both three-quarter length white socks as well as whote and dark-colored long stockings. W#hite socks and stockings seem by far the most common, although black stockings became much more common in the l880s than had been the case earlier in the century. Given the black and white photography of the day it is difficult to assess the color. In many cases it was black, but this was not always the case. We know that colored stockings were worn, normally darkmcolors. We do not know, however, how commonly they were worn with lpantalettes. The balck stockings of course make the pantalettes stand out more than if white stockings are being worn. We do not yet have sufficient images to assess the chronolgical trends concerning the hosiery worn with pantalettes. In the early 19th century when children wore long dresses and long pants skelleton suits, it is rather difficult to assess what style of hosiery was being worn. When hem lines began to rise, at first children continued wearing long pantgalettes. By the 1860s, however, it is usually possible to identify the type of hosiery being worn. Even in the late 19th century, it was not easy to tell. In some cases the problem is image qialoty. Here the boy looks to be wearing pantalettes with long stockings (figure 1). If you look just above the boy's boots, which look to be a color like red, you can just see the lonr of the three-quarter white socks. It is, however, extremely difficult to tell. As to the choice of hosiery, we are not sure precisely what the conventionsere. There may well be age and gender conventions. Seasonality may also be a factor.

Created: December 22, 2002
Last updated: December 22, 2002