Child's white cotton dress
Datelate 19th-early 20th Century
Object number00018347
NameDress
MediumCotton
DimensionsOverall: 600 x 330 mm, 0.15 kg
ClassificationsClothing and personal items
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionThis white cotton infant's dress was worn in the 1890s. It has short puffed sleeves and a tightly gathered waist with a drawstring tie. The bodice and full skirt have been decorated with pin tucking and broderie anglaise and three hand-carved mother-of-pearl buttons have been sewn onto the back of the dress.HistoryIn the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Australian children's clothing became less restrictive. Lighter fabrics, which were more suited to the hot antipodean climate, began to be used in preference to the heavier English velvets and flannels that had been so popular previously. Short sleeves began to be seen on girl's dresses, with frills and deep embroidered hemlines, broderie anglaise detailing, cape collars or yokes used for decoration. A new wardrobe for a new century.SignificanceThis is a rare surviving example of a late Victorian or Edwardian child's dress.
late 19th Century
late 19th Century
1890 - 1901
1890 - 1910