Why Clothing Can Narrow the Date

If your family photograph has no inscription, no studio mark and no helpful note on the back, the clothing in it is often your best evidence. Fashion moved quickly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries — sometimes within a handful of years — and the details visible in a sharp portrait are surprisingly datable. You do not need to be a costume historian. You need to know what to look at, and in what order.

Work from the largest shapes down to the smallest. Silhouette gives you a decade; collars, sleeves and hairstyles narrow it to within a few years. Then use the people in the picture, the card mount and the photographic process to test your estimate before you write it in pencil on the back.

Read the Silhouette First

Stand back and look at the overall shape of each figure. A wide, dome-shaped skirt over a crinoline points to the 1850s or 1860s, with sloping shoulders and, in the 1850s, wide pagoda sleeves. A skirt drawn back into a pouf or shelf signals a bustle: the first phase belongs to the 1870s, the more pronounced version to the 1880s, when day bodices were buttoned to the throat.

The 1890s are hard to mistake. Look for enormous leg-of-mutton sleeves — shoulders startlingly wide, waist pinched tight, skirt flared below. From about 1900 to 1910 the S-bend corset pushed the bosom forward and the hips back, giving a pouter-pigeon outline beneath a high lace collar. Between 1910 and 1914 skirts became narrow and slightly shorter, sometimes hobbled tightly at the ankle.

• 1850s–1860s: full oval skirts, fitted bodices, sloping shoulders
• 1870s–1880s: bustle, cuirass bodice, long-trained skirt
• 1890s: leg-of-mutton sleeves, tiny waist, bell skirt
• 1900s–1910: S-bend, high collars, broad-brimmed hats
• 1910–1914: narrower skirts, raised hems, hobble shapes
• 1920s: dropped waist, straight tube, hem to the knee
• 1930s: natural waist, bias cut, mid-calf hems
• 1940s: padded shoulders and utility skirts, then the nipped-waist New Look

Collars, Necklines and Cuffs

Men's collars are one of the most reliable clues you have. Tall, stiff "choker" collars worn with a narrow tie belong largely to the 1860s to 1880s. Softer turned-down collars with rounded points appear in the 1890s and 1900s. Soft attached collars and button-down styles spread after the First World War, and a winged collar with white tie was reserved for formal occasions at any date.

Women's daywear kept the neck covered until about 1914 — lace inserts, high collars, long sleeves. Bare necks and sleeveless dresses in daylight belong to the 1920s onwards. Fastenings help too: hooks and eyes and small fabric-covered buttons in the nineteenth century, then machine buttonholes and, from the 1930s, the metal zip in women's dresses. Detachable collars and cuffs were common because shirt bodies were washed less often than the linen that showed.

Hair, Hats and Beards

Facial hair is a gift to the family historian. Full beards and side whiskers dominate the 1850s to 1880s; a moustache worn alone, above a stiff collar, suggests the 1890s or 1900s; the clean-shaven look returns in the 1920s. Beards were sometimes kept long after they fell from fashion, so treat them as a starting point rather than proof.

Women's hair is just as telling. Centre partings drawn back smoothly suit the 1860s and 1870s; a frizzed fringe belongs to the 1880s; the soft pompadour and waving of the 1890s and 1900s sat beneath very large hats. Bobbed hair, shocking when it appeared around 1920, gives you the 1920s almost at once, followed by finger waves in the 1930s, victory rolls in the 1940s, and short set curls in the 1950s.

Remember that young boys wore dresses and long curls until they were "breeched", usually between four and six, so a child in petticoats may be a boy.

Children, Uniforms and Other Giveaways

• Sailor suits for boys, 1870s to 1900s; knickerbockers, 1890s to 1920s; shorts after the 1930s
• Girls' hems below the knee until the 1910s, rising sharply in the 1920s
• Mourning black, jet jewellery and crape trimmings, especially after 1861, can date a photograph to within months of a death
• Khaki service dress from 1902, khaki again through the Great War, RAF blue, and wartime nurses' aprons and veils
• Watch chains on waistcoats before the wristwatch became common after 1914

Where the Clues Can Mislead

Photographs were often taken in clothes kept for best and worn for years, so rural and working-class sitters frequently appear in fashions older than the date of the sitting. Date from the most recent element in the picture, but check it against the mount. Carte de visite cards peaked in the 1860s, cabinet cards from about 1866 to the 1900s, and postcard-backed prints from roughly 1902 to 1918, with smaller prints thereafter.

Wedding dresses were sometimes remodelled heirlooms, and memorial portraits show the deceased in garments they may have owned for decades. Beware, too, of later reprints and copies of copies. Add what you already know — a christening, a wedding, a move to a new town — and the clothing gives you a date you can defend with confidence.