I find this so intriguing. The tradition of breeching boys dates back to the 16th century. It started out to aid in the potty training process. And because trousers were very expensive and more difficult to let down as the child grew. It was simpler  and more cost effective to let them wear a dress . While this sound like a reasonable explanation. It does not account for the hairstyles I have seen on little boys that have not been breeched yet. I have pictures of my dad as a young boy wearing a dress. His hair was long and curled ( my dad has straight hair naturally). When my grandmother was alive her explanation was that it was the style back then, to dress little boys , in girls cloths And besides she said he just looked so cute as a girl. I think more often then not it was simply the mothers wish to have a little girl that kept these boys in dresses.

  I was at an antique store the other day and spotted this photograph. I just had to have it. The boy in the photo looks to be around ten or eleven. By the look on his face he wasn't very happy. Something tells me , maybe that he was made to wear his outfit. Not because he was not breeched yet, but because his mother made him wear it. But that is only my opinion.

  I just thought I would share.

Hugs, Roxy

I have pictures somewhere of not only my grandfather, but my father in a dress.  As you mention Roxy, it was the way things were done then.

That's very interesting, Roxy. Thanks for sharing!

Also, that little boy is too cute. lol

Just because 'something was done that way' like, say, slavery, public hangings, or excluding most persons, of color and women too, from voting does not make it wrong or right.

But really, tradition is mostly the answer to a question that we've forgot (or can't comprehend anymore), and clothing styles are a part of that.  Christening ceremonies tend to be held a couple weeks to a month after the birth, largely because prior to the development of modern medicine the number of children who died in childbirth, or shortly thereafter, so why waste a name?

Maybe it is a female bodied person who wants to be a boy and is angry at having to wear a dress for that reason.


I know, shut up.

I've heard of this as well, but never seen photographs before.

I understood the breaching to be a rite of passage for boys to become men. The downside, to me, seemed to be that, they were leaving behind the girl, so to speak, as part of childhood. Which kinda implies that those that didn't breach, ie, girls, remained children.

But potty training and economy seem equally plausable.

Thanks Roxy.

Is that not a kilt?

Quote from: My Name Is Ellie on January 25, 2011, 09:46:36 AM
Is that not a kilt?

The last name of the family in the photo was French, and they lived here in Oregon. So I don't think it was a kilt. but who knows, it was a hundred years ago.

  Hugs, Roxy

Gender roles change all the time. Back then, that was perfectly normal and boyish. Nowadays it's feminine and considered borderline cross-dressing.   

It's just like how pink and blue were reversed last century.

I have a picture of my grandfather in a dress too.

It was very popular for mothers to dress their boys in Little Lord Fauntleroy suits, along with having their hair long and curled.
Styles have always changed, and will continue to change....