Figure 1.--This cabinet card portrait shows two siblings about 5-8 years old. The boy wears a tunic suit with a wrap around lace collar. Rather than pants, underneath he is wearing some kind of skirted garment. The child on the right wearing a dress abd large lace collar has a boyish hair cut, but is probably a girl. The portrait was probbly takenm in the late-1870 or early-80s. The studio is Jewell & Corkins in Milan, Muchigan.

Most boys wore various types of pants with tunic suits. We note, however, a few photograhic portraits in whivcj boys see, to be weaing skirts under their tunics. We have not found mny examplesm, but we have found a a few. The images are not rel clear as to what the boys were wearing, but they certainly lkook like a skirt under the tunic. The examples we have found so far from the 1870s and we think the early-80s. We do not know how common these outfits were, nut there rarity in the photograohic record suggest that they not very common at all. We suspect that they were not mass produced, limiting gthe numbers ctually worn. .

Created: 8:13 PM 7/14/2022
Last edited: 8:13 PM 7/14/2022