“Childhood” was not created by children

The clothes children wear reflect adult conceptions of what children are. Their clothing may tell us that childhood is seen as a stage of transition towards adulthood or that children are regarded, and loved, as beings very different from adults. The clothes that cover children’s small bodies reflect what a certain society at a certain time thought children to be.

Because children wear out their clothes rapidly, examples preserved in good condition are rare. This exhibition, however, includes children’s clothing from the West that span the 18th through the early 20th centuries and from Japan from the 1900s to the 1940s. To then we have added over 100 paintings, fashion plates, picture books, and photographs that show us how children’s clothing has changed. In contrast to histories that focus on the creators of such garments, through haute couture creations, for example, this exhibition presents a history of fashion in which we read the feelings of those who wore and those who provided these clothes.