Why Are My Great Aunt's All Wearing The Same Dress ?

[Stefan Woolf]

Some individual studio portaits have come to light of my grandfather's four sisters.

The pictures, probably from about 1895 are from the Aylesbury, Thame & Tring studios of Mr & Mrs S.G. Payne & Son.

The young ladies in question would be roughly 24, 22, 17 & 15.

Each is wearing an elaborate dress, but the mystery is that each seems to be wearing exactly the same, (or same type of) dress. (Although we do wonder if each may be of a different colour ?).

It seems unlikely that they went to the studio and each put on the same dress in turn, but equally it seems odd that girls with an age spread of 9 years each had an identical dress made, (and they look very elaborate dresses).

Has anybody encountered anything like this, please, and if so do you have any explanation for it ?

Minnie Jane (b 1871)



Lizzie (b 1873)



Annie (b 1878)



Lottie (b 1880, and the only one to marry)



Many thanks,

Stef

[jim1]

I don't think they are the same dresses,the pleats below the ribbing are slightly different in each case.It may be one of them was a seamstress/dressmaker & made 4 the same.
jim

[Stefan Woolf]

Thanks Jim,

We are also erring towards thinking they are 4 dresses in the same style, rather than the same dress worn in turn by each girl.

I must admit we have missed the fine detail to which you refer.

We are also coming to the conclusion based on subtly different greys in each photo, that they may be in different colours.

It still seems odd though to dress 4 girls with ages spanning 9 years in near identically styled attire.

Well odd to us, anyway!  That's why I'm keen to know if others have encountered it in their photo collections.

Stef.

[Roobarb]

I think it's quite possible that it's the same dress. If the family was not well-off and couldn't afford a lovely dress like that for each daughter, perhaps they did pass it around for their photos to be taken.
I agree that the pleats do look slightly different but they could have been arranged individually by the wearer, and I expect that the wearer's different physical attributes could also account for it (you know what I mean!)

Just thought of something else - could it belong to the studio? They have feather boas and cowboy hats these days, maybe that was the 19th century equivalent!

[Stefan Woolf]

Hi,

Yes, we have also considered it might be the studios.

However the family were relatively, (though not exceptionally) well off, the father having managed to become a coal merchant some years earlier, and an employer of several men by the time of these portraits. A couple of the daughters appear to have been well enough provided for that they never needed to work.

There are several other surviving studio portraits of the family that also seem to say money was not an issue.

If you look at this picture, (same studio), presumably taken two or three years previous, you can see all daughters are fairly lavishly dressed.

Incidentally the young lad, Harry, is my grandfather.  He looks slightly disconnected from the whole process, as he does in other photos too.  This is probably related to the fact that he was completely deaf from a very early age.



Stef.

[Roobarb]

Interesting to see that the dresses that the girls top right and bottom left are wearing, seem to be pretty much alike! Perhaps it was just easier to make them from the same pattern! My mother used to make clothes for me and my sister who is a couple of years older than me, and she did just that with some of our clothes, although she would make a variation in the colours. I only found out in recent years that my sister hated it!

[Stefan Woolf]

I missed that.

Yes they are very alike, aren't they!  Perhaps it was just something my family did for no particular reason!

I've never heard that this side of the family had any dressmakers.  On the other side of my family a great grandmother was allegedly a court dressmaker, but as she also seems to have regularly been "economical with the truth", I'm not sure that claim can be taken seriously, (although she did make my grandmother's wedding dress!).

[DudleyWinchurch]

When did the fashion for bridesmaids begin?

I've seen twenties photos of lots of matching gowns (in light colours) but could this be an early version?

[DudleyWinchurch]

Interesting comment about the dressmakers too.

My grandmother was a dressmaker with five sisters who all seem to have been teachers.  According to the 1901, she worked "at home" and I had thought it would be paid work but having also been given photos with dresses of similar fashions, perhaps it was just a full time job making clothes for the rest of the family.  It must have taken a long time to make those elaborate dresses in the days before sewing machines.