Hi Evelina,
Must say that this is a nice sharp group study. I would agree with Gadget on the period that it was taken but would suggest that the year dates would be between 1893 (when the leg of mutton sleeve came in) and 1897 (when it went out of fashion).
One thing to note is that the young girl on the far right has her hair down and tied at the crown with a bow. This was usually worn in this fashion by teenage girls up until the age of 19/20.
In answer to Oldtimers query with regards to the hair being frizzy. One has to go back to the 1870's to find that this type of styling started to come into fashion (having part of the hair frizzed, that is) and it reached such a peak that by the late 70's there was a big business in producing artificial hair.
"Scalpettes" and "Frizzettes" (small wigs) were produced to such an extent that one company was manufacturing two tons of frizzettes a week.
From 1882 the fringe became more fashionable being frizzed, curly, crimped or sometimes straight and worn low on the forehead and for those that did not have the hair for such a style they could purchase small false curls that one could gum onto the forehead to give the illusion of a full curly fringe.
hope this helps.
old rowley
