Figure 1.--This Broklyn boy probably in the ealy 1880s wears a partial lace collar with a small white floppy bow. These collars were worn both with and without bow. Note that there were no matching cuffs. Click on the image for a fuller discussion of the boy's outfit.

Younger boys in the late-19th century might wear lace collars. It is a collar style common associated with the Little Lord Fauntleroy suits which became popular in the 1880s. They were worn before that, but as far as we can tell, they were not very common. It was in the 1880s with the popularity of Mrs. Burnett's book, Little Lord Fauntleroy, that they became really popular--at least with mothers. No where was the Little Lord Fauntleroy suit and accompanying lace collar more popular than in America. In many ways the Little Lord Fauntleroy suit was one of the first detincrive American styles, although fancy velvet suits for boys were first worn in Europe. The American Fauntleroy suit was generally worn with a lace or ruffled collar. Boys still in dresses also sometime wore lace collars. HBC is unsure if the popularity of the Fauntleroy suit in America meant that the lace collar was more commonly worn by American boys than European boys. We have not yet developed a major section specificically for American lace collars, but most of the images in the general lace collar section are American images. We think this in part reflects the greater size of HBC's Anerican archive, but it doies seem to suggest that lace collars may hve been more popular in American than Europe. Lace was an expensive item, often imported frm Europe. We tend to see an increasing number of ruffled collars during the 1890s instead of lace. Many ruffled collars, however, were trimed with lace.

Chronology

We note boys wearing lace collars throughout the 19th century. The popularity and size of those collars varied substatially. We do not have much information on the early 19th century, but ruffled rather than lace collars seem more popular for fshionably dressed boys. At mid-century we note women and girls using lace, but not very commonly do we see boys with lsace collars. Collars at mid-century tended to be very small. We note some ruffled collars, but not lace collars. We still see small collars in the 1860s. This began to change in the 1870s. We begin to see larger collars and some lace collars. A good example is an unidentified Salem boy. Boys of various ages in the late-19th century might wear lace collars. We note them being worn both with and without floppy bows. It is a collar style common associated with the Little Lord Fauntleroy suits which became popular in the 1880s. They were worn before that, but as far as we can tell, they were not very common. We see lave collars in the very early 20th cebtury, but ruffled collars seem more common.

Little Lord Fauntleroy

Mrs. Burnett's story first appeared in St Nicholas Magazine in November 1885. It was for some unfathomable reason an instant success. It probably relates to the number of affluent middle-class women at home with little to do and a great deal of time on their hands. Apparently many decided to devoted their energies to dress their sons in elaborate fashions. The first book edition of Little Lord Fauntleroy was published in 1886. She described Cedric's appearance in the book: "What the Earl saw was a graceful, childish figure in a black velvet suit, with a lace collar, and with love locks waving about the handsome, many little face, whose eyes met his with a look of innocent good-fellowship." The story was an instant success raising Mrs. Burnett to the status of a major American author and more importantly indelibly popularized these romantic, elaborate velvet suits. Mothers were soon trying to outdo each other on rich velvets and elaborate lace, not to mention the sausage curls for their boys

Little Lord Fauntleroy Suits

It was in the 1880s with the popularity of Mrs. Burnett's book, Little Lord Fauntleroy, that they became really popular--at least with mothers. No where was the Little Lord Fauntleroy suit and accompanying lace collar more popular than in America. In many ways the Little Lord Fauntleroy suit was one of the first detinctive American styles, although fancy velvet suits for boys were first worn in Europe. The American Fauntleroy suit was generally worn with a lace or ruffled collar. Boys still in dresses also sometime wore lace collars.

Fauntleroy Blouses

The classic Little Lord Fauntleroy suit was worn with a small velvet jacket to make up the full Fauntleroy suit. The classic Fauntleroy suit had a small cut-away jacket which was worn open at the front to best display the elaborate ruffled and lace trimed blouses. There were different types of Faunteleroy blouses. It could be worn with other suits or even without a suit jacket. The blouses came in a miriad of materials and styles.

Popularity

HBC is unsure if the popularity of the Fauntleroy suit in America meant that the lace collar was more commonly worn by American boys than European boys. We have not yet developed a major section specifically for American lace collars, but most of the images in the general lace collar section are American images. We think this in part reflects the greater size of HBC's Anerican archive, but it doies seem to suggest that lace collars may hve been more popular in American than Europe.

Age

Lace collars were primsarily worn by younger boys, somewhat younger that the ruffled collars that were widely worn in the late-19h century. We have just begun to develop information on the age of boys wearing them. We know very little about the early 19th century, but we don't thin they were very common. We rarely see them in early photographs (1840s-50s). We are etirely sure yet about the following two decades (1860s-70s). Most of the images we have found are from the late-19th century suring the Fauntleroy era (1880s-90s). Like Fauntleroy suits, lace collars were mosdtly worn by pre-school boys. We see school-age boys wearing the, but they declined rapidly on popularity for school-sage boys. This was, however, the era thast we see the oldest boys earing lace collsaes. We see boys up to about 10 years of age wearing lace collars. After that it was much less common. Older boys wore blouses with ruffled collars, but lsace collsars were much less common. This was especially the case after the turn-of-the 20th century.

Lace

Lace was an expensive item, often imported frm Europe. The term lace comes from the Latin laqueus meaning "noose". It is an ornamental fabric consisting of a decorative openwork of threads. The appreciation of lace dates back centuries. Lace was derived from the very humble origins--restitched fishing nets. It has evolved, of course, into a textile of great elegance.

Collar Styles

We note many different styles of lace collars worn by boys. There are differences both in the type of lace and the shape of the collar. Some of the collars look to be more crocheded work rather than fine lace. We are not sure about the lace collars worn in the early 19th century, but photographic portaits provide us a great deal of information about the collars worn in association with Fauntleroy outdits during the late-19th century. There were both pin-on collars and collars done as part of a blouse. This is not always easy to discern. Some of the collars were pure lace. These were done in various shapes. Others had only a small anount of lace, usually a lace trim or edgeding to a larger collar. A good example here is Joe Meyers. There are many other examples archived on HBC.

Cuffs

Some outfits were done with th lace collars repeated at the cuffs. This was most common for ruffled collars, but we also see matching lace cuffs as well.

Ruffled Collars

We tend to see an increasing number of ruffled collars during the 1890s instead of lace. This enable the collars to be quite large. The expense of lace mean that most boys could not have really large collars. There was no practical lmit to the size of ruffled collars, other thn the size of the boy. We believe American boys from affluent families, following the European fashion. wore ruffeled collars in the early 20th century. This would have been mostly boys in fashion-concious large cities. The style was probably not as common as in Europe. Some were worn open collars. While fancy, the open collar was well suited for children. This changed by mid-century when collars were almost always worn closed. We see ruffled collars them at mid-century, although they were not real common and tended to be very small. As young boys and girls in the 19th century were often dressed alike in dresses, the collar was sometimes used to diferentiate boys from girls. Often the girls neckline might be cut lower while boys might have higher even though fancy collars. There were no definite rules on such matters, however, and mostly it was up to the fancy of the mothers. Ruffled collars became a major fashion statement in the latec19th century as the result of the Little Lord Fauntleroy craze. Lace collars were popular with early Fauntleroy suits, but gradually ruffled collars became more common. By the turn of the 20th century, ruffled collars becamme more common. A good example here is a boy in Washington, Pennsylvania about 1905.

Lace-trimmed Ruffled Collars

Many ruffled collars were trimed with lace. As ruffled collars could be quite large, this usually mean just the edgeing of the ruffled collar. A good example here is the Harrison boys about 1890.

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Created: 4:46 PM 8/8/2007
Last updated: 6:37 AM 10/4/2009