Little American Girl circa 1870s
Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)
This is a cute little girl from the US. Her dress was common in the 1870s. The middle class of American was starting to exists. She is a northerner lass. The outfit shows influence from France. France was still relevant as far as fashion is concerned. Women would see French magazines, before mimicking the dresses for their boutiques.
During the impressionism movement, a new idea was blossoming. The idea of just chilling or having downtime was popularized. In response to this, children were finally allowed to be children. This is reflected in their attires. No longer were children treated like miniature adults. This was worse with noble children. Starting at the age of 3, little girls were made to wear those corsages.
They would mutilate their fragile ribs from a young age. Male children too suffered from this problem. The problem was that little boys would be dressed as girls till their gender was more defined. As such, some would end up cursed to wear the corsage.
Well, there was still the traditional dichotomy. Working class children had to work in the factories. There was no choice in the matter since. Factory work was better than farm work, as far as salary was concerned. The institutional solution to this problem was to make it illegal for children to work. This did not solve the problem, since low salaries were the issue. Most parents would prefer their kids did not work, but when the alternative is death by starvation, most kids have to work.
