Figure 1.--This little French boy on a family outing during 1952 wears bib-front rompers ( Barboteuse Bain de Soleil).

French boys have worn several different types of rompers. Rompers were worn by children in oseveral countries where they were not strictly a boy's garment. But we see a much greater variety of these garments in France. We do not know of any study which has assessed different types of rompers. We have attempted to identify different types by assessing available images. We are unsure as to precisely wht the correct term was for these different types of rompers. The principal types are the full romper one-piece suit, the bib-front romper, and the romper bottom worn with a blouse or other shirt. The one-piece romper or barboteuse was the classic French romper garment, but has we can be seen there were quite a variety of these garments. There are, however, some other types of varying popularity. There are many variations on both the one-piece-suit rompers and the blouses as to how the garments buttoned. We welcome any insights our French readers may be anle to offer here.

One-piece Suits

A French reader tells that the one-piece suits were the most common. The original rompers were the one-piece suit type which first appeared in France during 1922. They were the first outfit to be called a "barboteuse". This style were the rompers that the youngest boys wore. I'm not sure to what size they were made, but probly to 3-4 years. They were initially a play outfit, but dressier versions with front smocking were also made. They had waist draw bands attached at the side and were tied in a bow at the back. These suits were almost always back buttoning.

Two-piece Suits

Although one-piece suits were the most popular. We also notice two-piece suits done in various styles. A HBC reader has sent a family portrrait of a boy wearing a two-piece romper suit. The top has a rather curios collar that I have no seen used very often. Notice that normaly his little collar should be turned round. Our reader tells us, "I am not surprised at this about this original way to do. It was a idea more his mother. The puff pants had one botton on each side. There was no bow at the back. The pants probably has croch butonning, most romper suits did. This romper was worn alone on sunny days. If it was cool mother might add a wool jacket or a very short coat with , if necessery.

Blouse-jacket Rompers

Two-piece romper suits were suspender romers with a blouse that tucket into the romper panys. Some buttoned on to the rompers. This was by far the most common type of two-piece romper suits. We note a few boys weating a kind of blouse jacket. It was not tucked into the romper pants. Rather it was worn like a jacket that hung over the waistline of the romper pants. I'm not sure how the rompers were held up, they may have been suspender rompers. We are not entirely sure how common these rompers were, but we do not note many examples in the photographic record.

Bib-front Rompers/ Barboteuse Bain de Soleil

Bib-front rompers are also commonly called sunsuits. these appear to have been worn by somewhat older boys than the dressier rompers. This was especially the rompers designed for beachwear, as reflected in the French term barboteuse bain de soleil These came in different types of bib fronts. Some tied around the neck. More substantial bibfront had shoulder straps which was the ore common construction. Tghe standard barboteuse bain de soleil had a bib front with shouder straps. Some has a bow in the back. They were also croch butonning like the standard barboteuse. This pattern was normally made made up to size 55 cm or to age 6 years old. Unlike the classic barboteuse, the barboteuse bain de soleil was also worn by little girl on beach by about 1955--but this seems to have been quite rare. Some magasines in 1955 asked if it was appropriate for girls to wear thd barboteuse bain de soleil as beachwear. A French reader writes, "I don't remember having seen little girls wearing the barboteuse bain de soleil, but apparently there were some girls who did wwar them. The traditional barboteuse had never been worn by girls in France. It was seen as a boy's garment."

Suspender Rompers

Another popular style was romper pants without bib-fronts, but atttached suspenders in the same material as the pants. They were worn with blouses. Usually the blouses were white, but some were the same color and material as the romper bottoms. These were often a more dressy style than the bib-front romper suits. We have noted some made with pleats. There might be side buttons to improve the fit.

Button-on Rompers

The blouses worn with the rompers were usually button-on style. Thet had buttons at the waist which fitted into button holes at the waist of the romper pants. The blouses varied widely in style and included Peter Pan collars and puff sleeves. Some of the blouses were smocked.

Costume Bloomer

The "costume bloomer" (bloomer outfit) was for boys 1-4 years old. It was the vogue during 1957 to the mid 1960s. This suit was worn everywhere as much for play as for formal dressy occasions like weddings. Generaly the bloomer-like romper pants had suspenders, but there were also romper pants without the suspenders and an elasticated waist. The pants usually had butonning at the crotch and well puffed pants. People called these pant worn with a blouse a "costume bloomer" and never a "barboteuse" although both have the bloomer-like puffed pants. [HBC note: While the French only use "barboteuse" for the one-piece garment, HBC for organizational simplicity is listing these garments together as rompers.} This garment in French had only one name commonly used: costume bloomer. Quite often it could be referred to in magazines: "costume 2 pièces". This term had no real meaning because there are many different types of two piece suits. The term commonly used was "costume bloomer". In the 1960s it was replaced with two different styles for the garçonnet, younger boy. The first was the "costume garçonnet à culotte demi bouffante" or little boys' outfit with slihtly puffted short pants. The second was the "costume garçonnet à culotte droite" or little boy outfit with straight short pants. These two styles were worn year round with a "manteau baby" during the winter.

Culotte Bloomer

Rompers in French are best translated as "barboteuse". They are one-piece suits with the bloomer-like short pants with elasticized leg openings, usually back buttoning. The bloomer short pants by themselves with suspender or elasticized waists are called "culotte bloomer". Mostly commonly theu had susprnders or bib fronts, but they were also made with plain elasticized waists. Dressy "culotte bloomers" were commonly worn with fancy blouses and referred to as a "culotte bloomer costume". They wre usually worn by oldr boys thn wore the one-piece barboteuse.

Culottes Bloomer Costume

The romper outfit was exclusivley a style for little boys. According to our French source, rompers were never worn by girls. He writes, "The French mentality at the time did not permit changing boys' garments to girls wear. A 1955 magazine article "Femmes d'aujourd'hui" asked, "Why not a romper for a girl?" The article even gave a description of one, it seems without succes. Romper suits were only for boy and in this time a girl dressed in a romper would have been like a boy in a dress! This should not be confused with culottes bloomers. These were bloomer pants worn by women and little girls underneath a dress or smock frock.

Knitted Romper

Knitted rompers were popular for younger boys. Rompers were knitted in wool. French mothers and grandmothers often preferred wool for babies and young children. Most of the time wool garments were selected, especially for babies. This was true even in the Summer. The knitted romper didn't have a bow in the back. The belt was normaly knotted at the side. Often two ponpoms were at the end of the belt. Like other rompers, they had crotch buttoning and sliped on by the head. A reader provides a 1946 photograph of a one-piece romper suit. The anckle socks were turn up. This was a vogue just after World War II. This boy wore knitted white underwear with his romper suit. The ankle socks were also knitted in cotton.