Mothers had more latitud on how to dress their children and fathers had much more authority. Political Connotations One does not normally consider the political connotations of boys wear, but in fact the way some boys were dressed had definite political conotations. The ones that most priminently come to mind are the ways that royal youngsters were dressed. A boys' style with very significant political connotations was the sailor suit, although this is not fully understood today. It is interesting to speculate as to why differences in fashion developed and wheter they are accidental, random developments or rather reflections of deeper aetetic or social values.
Some differences are practical.
Thus climate dictates that boys in Russian and the Caribbean dress differently. Sometimes fashion overides practical matters. School boys and Scouts, for example, on many Caribbean islands insist on wearing long pants. One intreaguing question is did American and Europeans boys dress so differently during much of the 20th century. European boys commonly wore short pants while American boys mostly wore knickers and long pants.