Plain Pantalettes

Figure 1.--"Joseph and Anna Raymond, artist unknown, America, c. 1840. This brother and sister both wear plain pantalettes. His are worn with a tunic-like, open front jacket. Their pantalettes look to be identical.

Pantalettes or pantalets/pantaloons are long drawers with a lace frill 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.

Pantalettes varied considerably in length and style. The length was primarily a reflection of changing fashion trends. 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 decvoid of any fancy work or embellishment.

Style

A range of styles exist, but the principal is straight legs faling donn without any tapering or trying to afjust to the contour of the leg. In fact the idea was to obsure the contour of the leg.

Some pantalettess look almost like loose trousers.

Material

I am not sure what material was used for plain pantalettes, but it is a topic I am pursuing.

Conventions

I am not sure what the conventions for weasring plain pabtalettes were, but several possibities seem likely.
Gender differentiation: It appears that after the first decde of the 19th Century that both boys and girls wore virtually identical pantalettes. Some mothers may have subsequently decided to outfit boys in plainer pantalettes.
Age differentiation: Thevplain pantalettes may have been used more for older children, especially the older boys still wearing dresses and tunics.
Purpose: The plain pantalettes may have been worn for normal wear orplay around the helse. The fancy pantalettes made outb of expensive materials may have been worn for parties, vhurch, or other special occasions.
Other:

Terminology

Pantalettes, especially the plainer ones, in the 19th Century were commonly referred to as drawers in America. I do not believe this term was used in England. I also do not know what the derivation of the term was. Perhaps because they were kept in drawers. Pantalettes were the first garments referred to as drawers, which has come to mean a garment for the lower part of the body with a separate portion for each leg. The term "drawers" is still commonly used in America for underpants, but the term "pantalettes" is no longer used.

Accompanying Clothing

Girls of course wore pantalettes with dresses, the only garments they wore through most of the 19th Century.

Boys also wore pantalettes with dresses. However they appear to have worn them with other clothes as well, including: tunics, skeleton suits, and eventually even Fauntleroy suits as late as the 1890s.