Early 19th century art is not my thing, so why is it that in many portraits from that time period little boys are wearing dresses? I guess this may be more of a culture and society question then one about art. I actually recall hearing a discussion about it on Antique Roadshow, but promptly forgot the answer. I’ve done a bit of online research and haven’t found anything. Anyone know?
Little boys used to wear dresses up until the first part of this century-I’d guess about, 1930s/40s?
It was mostly easier with toilet training, before washing machines and the like.
When it was time for these boys to wear their first pair of trousers of shorts this was called “breeching” and usually happened at about the age of 4 or 5. I suppose the term comes from the word “breeches”
I once worked with a guy who thought Ernest Hemingway was the greatest. Some other cow-orker showed him a photo from a school textbook showing Papa as a wee bairn in a dress – with lace trim, no less. The first guy kept denying it was Hemingway, but really, putting boys that age in dresses was pretty common, and besides, Ernest hadn’t seen his first bullfight yet.
I have just found this link via Google that explains all:-
http://histclo.hispeed.com/style/skirted/dress/breech.html
And even then you had to wear short pants-usually knee britches. My grandfather showed us a picture of him when he was, maybe 13, with his first pair of long trousers.
what about big boys in dresses?
[slight hijack]
As long as we’re on the subject of boys’ clothing of yore, what’s with Dennis the Menace, the Our Gang boys, and so many other boys from a couple generations ago and the little flap in the back of their PJs? I always assumed it was so they could poop without having to actually take off their PJs. However, that seems rather like a shortcut if you ask me, and the people of a couple generations ago weren’t much into shortcuts. That, and it’s just plain silly.
So, anyway, what’s the deal?
[/slight hijack]
Who says people a couple of generations ago were any less into shortcuts than we are now? I’m assuming you mean those flaps on the back of one piece suits, and I’d assume that it was to be able to relieve yourself without having to take the entire thing off.
Not silly. Without the flap you would have had to lower the entire garment to your knees in a freezing-cold outhouse in the middle of winter.
Perhaps they scoffed at shortcuts, but nobody scoffs at hypothermia.
Ironically, I was just reading about two people that were made to wear dresses when they were boys; Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole.
I read somewhere that General MacArthur was kept in dresses until he was eight and was a total Mama’s Boy.
If my memory serves me well, little boys used to wear dresses for a few reasons…
[li]Dresses could be handed down from girls to boys, meaning less clothes had to be made depending on the gender of your children.[/li][li]Dresses made crawling harder, so it was more difficult for a curious toddler to crawl near a lit fireplace.[/li][li]Dresses facilitated the changing of dirty diapers - no pants to pull down.[/li]
Boys got their knickers around the age of five, and long pants around the age of 13.
[sub]I knew volunteering at that history museum for a year would come in handy![/sub]
That photo haunted Hemingway for years. He had a number of older sisters who used to dress him up when he was a small (aren’t older sisters wonderful?). It was not apparently his normal attire.
Hemingway was never close with his family after his father killed himself and as his books were published, they (his sisters and mother) were scandalized. You’ve got to remember his books were pretty hot stuff in their time. The sister who had possession of the photo released it to the public to get back at her brother.