Boys in dresses!
[John Fane] Lord Burghersh. [Ref: 53432 ] From the mid-16th century until around the late 19th century young boys in the Western world typically wore dresses or gowns. They generally wore these until they were toilet trained and old enough to be able to undo the fastening of their breeches or trousers, which could be very complicated! This rite of passage was called breeching. The first stage of this was to wear shortened gowns from when they were babies allowing them to walk and move more freely. You can still see the remnants of these long baby gowns in the modern day christening attire. In the second stage they would move onto trousers of breeches. For poor children this often symbolised their movement into the workplace. Just Breech'd. (From the pair) [Ref: 48174 ] The print above shows a boy in his first pair of breeches, his petticoats lie discarded on a stool beside him. He looks very pleased wit...
