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A suit is a set of clothing intended to be worn together. Normally suit garments are made of the same material, but there there are some exceptions. The basic suit garments were the jacket or coat and matching trousers. While this was the basic compnents of the suit, they were of course done in many different styles. There were also three-piece suits. The three-piece suits came with vests (waistcoats). The vests were normally made of the same material as the jacket and trousers, but some 19th century vests were made to contrast with the rest of the suit. There were also suits with matching caps, but this was much less common. These caps were primarily see in the 20th century and were done as peaked caps in the style of English school caps.
Headwear was not norally made as part of a suit. Rather the parents purchased what they thought was appropriate and fashionable to be worn with the suit. An exception was the peaked school cap. There were also suits with matching caps, but this was much less common. These caps were primarily see in the 20th century and were done as peaked caps in the style of English school caps. We re not sure how common this was in England. It may have been more common in America.
One of the basic suit garments is the jacket or coat. The jacket or coat was done in many different styles. The type of suit was primarily determined by the jacket. Many if not most boys' suit styles originated in England, including the sailor, Eton, and Norfolk suits as well as several other importat styles. Suits with cut-away jackets were popular in the mid-19th century for younger boys. A good example is Cyril Bickersteth in 1865. Older boys wore sack suits and these gradually became the sandard style. Boys wore single and double breasted suit jackets. Single-breasted coats have been the major style worn by boys in England.
There were also three-piece suits. The three-piece suits came with vests (waistcoats). The vests were normally made of the same material as the jacket and trousers, but some 19th century vests were made to contrast with the rest of the suit. Vests were very common in the 19th century, especially the mid-19th century.
Suits were worn with several different types of trousers. This varied substantially over time. English boys have worn knee breeches, long pants, kneepants, bloomer knickers, knickers, and short pants suits. We see boys in the 19th century wearing both long pants, bloomer knickers, knee pants and knicker suits. Various factors affected the type of trousers, including chronological fashion trebnds, age, social class and others. Long trouses were mostly worn at the beginning of the decade, but several different types of trousrs were common in the second hlf of the century. Many English boys after World War I wore short pants suits. The popularity of short pants suits began to decline in the late 1950s. They were still available for younger boys in the 70s, but rarely seen since except as part of school uniforms. By the 1960s suits except for very little boys were generally made with long pants.
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