Pair of children's dresses, backs

Queen Victoria's children would accompany her on public visits and were presented to heads of state. They often wore matching outfits like these smart, pink silk dresses thought to have been worn by two of her daughters, Princess Helena and Princess Louise.

These dresses are characteristic of children's fashion in the 1840s when it was becoming more fashionable for younger children to wear dresses with shorter, wider skirts made of fabric with body such as cotton and silk using petticoats to give shape and fullness. They were sometimes worn with little white trousers underneath, with frills around the ankles known as pantaloons or pantalettes. Before the 1840s young children were more likely to wear longer, wider skirts made of softer fabrics like soft lawn and cambric (french lightweight, plain-weave cottons).