Imagine, you are a small boy living in Victorian England. Tomorrow you will be five years old and then, you will begin the process of being breeched. You aren't sure whether to look forward to it, or be frightened! Up until now, you have worn the loose clothing of young children, but tomorrow, you will be wearing your first pants. It's a bit scary!
When I took this breeching suit to show the children, their reactions were hilarious. At first, they loved it, thinking it was very cute and beautifully made. According to some of the children, it made them think of the musical Oliver! which they have been watching. Then, when I told them more about the suit and what it meant for boys in Victorian times, they were horrified. The boys in particular found the idea of having to earn their masculinity terrible and were horrified to think boys were dressed in tunics, dresses and had long curls at first.
For boys living in Victorian times there were actually several 'stages' of dress, many of which are vastly different to what boys today wear. Up until the age of about 4 or 5 years old boys wore various styles of dress which were remarkably similar to those of girls, with pleated skirts, frock coats, tunics and blouses all being common clothing choices. As the boys grew older and learned to walk the skirts became shorter, making it easier for them to walk. Around the age of four or five though, boys started the steps towards dressing in a way which we would be more familiar with - in pants. This process was often referred to as 'breeching'.
Breeching dates back long before the Victorian era and essentially implied that gender was actually something which children grew into. It was a symbol that the boy was ready to start the journey to becoming a man, and there was actually no set age when it took place though it was usually about the age of five. Strange as this may sound today, the first step in breeching was actually to acknowledge that the child was a boy and so was entitled to wear trousers. This could apparently be very difficult for the mother as it heralded the start of many other things, including going to school and playing 'roughly' outside. The first trousers were usually knickerbockers which only went to knee length and usually also fastened at the side, as the ones I showed the children do. A shirt was worn over the top and was specially made to fasten to buttons at the waist of the pants (you can see these buttons on this suit). For young boys the jacket usually only had one fastening, as the suit I showed the children does (the buttons are simply there for decoration). As the child grew older the side opening in the pants changed to a fly at the front, the buttons to hold the shirt in place changed to suspenders and more buttons were added to the jacket. The pants also got longer. At around the age of ten, the suits worn by children would be very similar to those worn by his father.
