Fancy Pantalettes

Figure 1.--This New England boy in an image painted about 1840 wears a dress and particularly fancy pantalettes. The painting has been attributed to J.W. Stock.

Pantalettes or pantalets/pantaloons are long drawers, some with fancy lace frills or other finish at the bottom of each leg. They were widely worn by women and children (boys and girls) during the first half of the 19th century. The pantaletts extended below the hem of the dresses worn by boys and girls and the ankle and calf-length trousers worn by boys. In the early 19th century it was not considered proper for even small children to have bare legs. In fact the word leg was not used in polite company, rather the early victorians referred to limbs. The lacey pantaletts range in length, from knee to ankle length

Pantalette styles varied considerably in length, shape (cut), and adornment. The major change over time was the lebngth of the pantalettes which varied from above the knee to ankle length. The length was primarily a reflection of changing fashion trends. I believe a child's pantalettes were all about the same length. He may have had different styles for different occasions, such as plain pantalettes for ordinary wear and a very fancy pair for formal dress occasions.. I do not think that a child, however, would have had different lengths of pantalettes to wear.

The style of the pantalettes is less obvious. Pantalettes run a gamit from the plain to the extremely fancy, laden with frills, laace and ribbon. Other plain pantalettes were almost entirely devoid of any fancy work or embelishment.

Figure 2.--This 1848 painting shows an 11-year old English boy wearing pantalettes that extend over the knee, but only to mid calf. They appear to be ruffled at the hem and threaded with a narrow ribbon closure. Note his younger sister is not wearing pantalettes.

Style

Pantalette style varied greatly. Ithink they were mostly white, but there were great variations in length, shape, and adornment.

Color

I believe that pantalettes were mostly white, but there were of course different shades of white. There may have been some colored pantalettes, but if so I think they would have been rather rare.

Length

Pantalettes at the beginning of the century were worn to cover the ankle. This continued through the 1830s or even into the 40s, although there may have been some differences between countries. I believethe length of pantalettes began to shorten in the 1840s and by the 1850s for boys and younger children were worn just below the knee. Boys and younger girls were wearingtheir pantalettes above the knee by the 1860s. Pantalettes were less worn by the 1870s ans when worn would just peak out at the hem rather than being extensively displayed as was once the case.

Shape/Cut

As with plain pantalettes, the idea was to obsure the contour of the leg. Some pantalettess look almost like loose trousers. Many had simple straight legs. Not all pantalettes had straight legs. Other fancy pantalettes were a little more tightly fitted.

The cut of the pantalette over varied at the bottom. This was paricularly true of mid-calf pantalettes worn with short dresses or tunics, because this was the major feature of the pantalette showing. The bottom often flared out a bit to provide more area for adornment with lace and ruffles or perhaps ribbon trim.

Figure 3.--This boy is Hallam Tennysonm son of Alfred, Lord Tennyson the famous English poet. He wears over the knee pantalettes that appear to be ruffled with his tunic jacket. I am not sure if the ruffles were lace trimmed or not. As he got older his mother dressed him in plainer pantalettes, but always in tunics.

Adornment

Fancy pantalettes came with a range of adornments. Pretilly trimmed pantalettes were a very important part of a girl's outfit and some mothers insisted on the same look for their sons. Intially the fancy lace and ruffle trim would cover than ankles, but eventually the length of the pantalettes rose and the trim was not used to cover the ankles but purely for ornamentation.
Lace: The fanciest, most expensive pantalettes were trimmed with expensive lace which at first only appeared at the hem of long dresses. As dresses got shorter, much more of the panteleete was visible and they could be quite elaborate. All kinds of lace were used to trim pantalettes. Women's pantalettes might be trimmed in real Swiss lace, but it is likely that children's pantalettes might be trimmed in less expensive lace. In wealthy families even children, however, might have a pair of pantaleetes timmed in the finest and most expensive lace.
Ruffles: Many fancy pantelettes had extensive ruffles, especially but not exclusively at the hem or bottom of the leg. Particularly fancy pantalettes might have had more than ore row of ruffles and tucks.
Emroidery: Fancy pantalettes also had extensive embroidery work.
Ribbons: I have noted ribbins threaded into the hem of the pantalette bottom in the 1840s. Mother may have varied the color of the ribbon, dependingon the color of the dress or other outfit worn. This style may have begun earlier, but that is the first I have noticed it so far. I have no details yet on the ribbons, as to the material, color, size, bow, etc.
Tucks: Initially only the bottom of the pantalette showed as the dresses and long trousers of skeleton suits cobered the boys legs. As shorter dresses and tunics became fashionable, much more of the pantalette showed. Thus tucks were added which could be elaborately decorated with lace and ruffles and not just the bottom of the pantalette leg.

Figure 4.--Boys in dresses were still wearing pantalettes in the 1860s, but much shorter ones than at the beginning of the century. This photograph shows Prince Albert Victor of Whales, eldest son of Edward VII in a rather frilly lace trimed dress for a 1868 photograph. He appears to be wearing sraight leg pantalettes with elaborate lace trim showing at the hem.

The fanciest pantaettes were usually made for girls. Boys usually wore quite plain pantalettes. This was, however, at the mother's whim and a boy could be dresses in quite fancy pantalettes. Gender fashion trends for boys were not nearly as set as is the case in the modern world. Thus mothers had considerablw leeway as to how to dress their sons. Fashions varied in popularity, but mothers had the option of choosing styles which appeared to them rather than what was the most popular at the time. It is likely, however, that a child in a short dress and long fancy ankle-length pantalettes is probably a girl, but there are many exceptions to this general rule.

Material

Some of these conventions changed over time. Conventions for pantalettes had changed markedly by the mid-19th century. It was becoming less common for boys to wear pantalettes, except for youger boys still in dresses. While the style had not entirely disappeated. Some boys still wore suits with calf-length pants. In some cases frills were incorporated with the hem of the

Figure 5.--Boys were still wearing pantalettes with kilted skirts even in the late 1880s. The kilts and dresses were generally worn long anfd the pantaleetes were shortened to show just at the hem of the skirt. Thus any lace or ruffled trim was generally confined to the bottom of the pantalette leg, as was the style at the beginning of the century.

Time-line Changes

Girls of course wore pantalettes with dresses, the only garments they wore. Boys also wore pantalettes with dresses. In the early 19th Century as it was not considered proper for even young children to have bare legs, both boys and girls comminly wore long --often with strap shoes. Not all boys wore pantalettes with their dresses. But boy's dress would be worn over pantalettes (often referred to as "drawers") to match, which showed beneath the dress.

Figure 6.--The noted English author E.M Forster is pictured here at the age of 5 years in 1884. He wears a Fauntleroy dress with pantalettes. While they were becoming less fashionable, pantalettes were still worn by some boys as late as the 1890s. His rich aunt who left him a sizeable inheritance, reportedly liked to see him nicely dressed. Click on the image for information on Forster.

Younger boys by the 1860s commonly began to appear with bare legs, often with pantalettes at the hem of their dresses. Dresses became longer in the 1870s and pantalettes less common.

Boys also wore their pantaleetes with other clothes as well, tunics and skeleton suits. Some boys wore pain white socks or stockings, but other boys also wore pantalettes through much of the first half of the 19th Century.

Pantalettes became much less common in the 1870s, but did not entirely disappear. Some boys wore fancy pantalettes with the Fauntleroy suits which swept over the American and European fashion scene in the late 1880s. This occurred in the late 1880s and even the 1890s, but this was not a common fashion. It was only the particularly elaborate Fauntleroy suits had pantalette-like lace trim and ruffles at the hem of the velvet kneepants. In some cases pantalettes were not actually worn, but lace and ruffle trim might be added to the pants legs to give the look of wearing pantalettes.