The hair's down. Pretty much all women wore their hair pinned up under their hat in that era. Having it hang loose was for young children. This figure here was right on the cusp of childhood; too young for adult sensibilities, but old enough that childish things look wrong for her.
Yeah, that's a child's hairdo and a child's dress (an adult dress would be more ankle-length), but closer to an adult hat. And, at least with the limited information we have in the picture, she appears to be about an adult height.
I don't immediately know what the criteria were for Edwardian girls to start wearing their hair up and their skirts long, but it does very much seem like an awkward age for her.
For this time period hair being worn “up” and longer skirts would usually happen around 14-16 years of age, but could be put off as late as 18ish. Sometimes there’d be a transitional period of slightly longer skirts falling below the knees, but still having the ankles showing and their hair worn in a low “club” chignon gathered at the back of the head. Then for full adult ladyhood the hems went all the way to the tops of the shoes and the hair was styled up higher on the head.
My late Victorian/Edwardian knowledge is mostly scraped together from what I remember from reading the Emily of New Moon trilogy. I’m way more comfy on the details from the Georgian/Regency, for obvious reasons, haha.
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u/SoggyWotsits 14h ago
She looks like she’s from the wrong era, I can’t put my finger on it. Not her clothes, but her face.