This is a Cabinet Card from the antique shop in Detroit Lakes Minnesota.
A young family from the Fergus Falls Minnesota area. The photographer was Alldrin. He was in Fergus Falls from 1894 to 1895. So that is the date we will give this photo.
Again we have the top button buttoned on the jacket of the gentleman and the lady looks to have large sleeves that are very fitted from the elbow to the wrist, very much the style for 1895.
The littlest boy has a huge bow on his suit, and he held very still. I cannot say the same for his sibling whose movements caused his/her image to be blurred. During early photography the exposure times were very long so people sitting for photographs had to hold still for a long time.
Thanks for stopping by. Do come again:)
Beautiful clothing.
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed a charming young family. Although, I must say, I hope the little boy was never forced to wear the attire he wore here at any other time. It's no wonder that other boys, attired in less flamboyant street clothes, would make fun of boys dressed like this one. I have never understood why some mothers were so cruel as to dress their little boys in such a fashion [no matter how “cute”], knowing fully well how severely ridiculed their sons would be by other boys – and even girls. I have never been particularly fond of the style of the man's suit coat, either. However, similar versions of that man's cut-away-style sack coat were among the fashionable men's styles of sack coats for roughly half-a-century, from the 1860s well into the first decade of the twentieth-century. And I hope to someday learn the name of the lady's hair style, which also was a popular style for many years but especially so in the 1890s.
ReplyDeleteWould they have been teased? Or was this typical formal wear for little girls or boys regardless? I was under the impression that gender boundaries for children are much more delineated in modern times, less so then, but I'm no expert. What do you think, Far Side?
ReplyDeleteThe bow is a bit much..perhaps he could have been teased about it..minus the bow is is typical clothing for the time. This little guy is only 4 or 5 years old..he would not have been out and about much by himself. Little boys and little girls were dressed pretty much the same until boys were breached..this boy is breeched..he has britches (breeches) on. Little boys in potty training had to be able to pull their pants down themselves and do up the buttons before they were breeched. There were no snaps or zippers:)
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