Figure 1.--Some tunics had fancy lace and ruffle trim. This little boy in a photograph taken about 1900 wears a sailor tunic with lace trim. Note the short socks and strap shoes. Such fancy tunics were not normally worn by girls who more commonly wore dresses.

Tunics or blouse suits appear to have been worn by both boys and girls. They have worn different types of tunic outfits. HBC is not yet sure to what extent different types of tunics were worn by boys and girls. There appears to have been some gender differences in these tunics. As it is some times difficult to identify the gender of the child, the differences in boys and girls tunics can be helpful in assessing old photographs.

Tunic Types

Tunics were made in several different types and stylistic vaiations. We do not think that girls commonly wore tunics in the 19th centyry. We do note, however, that many girls wore the various types of tunics that became popular in the at the turn of the 20th century. We believe that girls as well as boys wore the different styles of tunic suits, but we are just beginning to collect information on this. It is possible that girls may have worn certain types of tunic suits more than others. Girls most commonly wore sailor tunics/blouse and Russian blouse suits, but not usually tunics in the Buster Brown fashion. There were, however, no absolute rules on this. Girls often wore them like dresses, but fashion magazines referred to them as tunic suits.

Indicators

There seem to have been some differences between boys and girls as to the conventions for wearing tunics. Here we have just begun to collect information. Some of the indicators developed by HBC follow:

Ages

Girls including younger teenagers might wear tunics. It is rare, however, to see boys much older than 6 or 7 in a tunic suit.

Styling

One might think that the girl's tunic might be fancier than the boy's tunic. This does not seems to have been the case. In fact, while I have seen some very fancy boy's tunics with elaborate lace and ruffles. The same is not true of girl's tunics. I think that this is because if a mother wanted a fancy girl's outfit, she bought a dress. As fancy boy's dresses were becoming less fashionable after the turn of the century, the only fancy skirted outfit available was the tunic suit. One stylistic difference was the belt. The belt was an important feature on a boy's tunic. The belt on a girl's tunic was often smaller or did not have a front buckle. Some girl's tunics had no belt at all. However some did wear belted tunics so the absence of a belt is more important indicator than the presence of a belt.

Figure 2.--This older girl wears a tunic that has Buster Brown styling with a skirt. The photograph looks to have been taken about 1920.

Knickers/Skirts

Perhaps the most significant difference was that older girls did not wear bloomer knickers that extended below the knee. We are less sure about younger girls. Some girl's tunics had skirts or petticoats underneath. Some may jabe also worn bloomer knickers like the boys, but we are not possitive of this.

Created: January 30, 1999
Spell check: July 30, 1999
Last updated: April 17, 2002