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The classic Little Lord Fauntleroy suit was worn with kneepants or bloomer knickrs. Some mothers, however, were so enamored with the Fauntleroy look that they wanted to atire their younger sons who had not yet been breeched in the new Fauntleroy look. One option was a Fauntleroy jacket and blouse, but worn with a kilt or skirt. Some mothers also chose dresses with Fauntleroy styling. Often the kirts were referred to as kilts. Quite commonly they were plaid skirts, but not always. Only rarely were proper Highland kilts with full regalia worn, especially in America. . These boys were dressed in a typical Fautleroy jacket and lace collar, but with a kilt or frock instead of kneepants. The kilt was rarely a Scottish plaid, but made of the same material as the jacket. This fashion gave the apearance of a dress rather than a Scottish kilt. The Fauntleroy suit dress/kilt was particularly popular in the 1880s and early 1890s, but declined as the new century approached and the fashion of dressing small boys in dresses wained. The skirted Fauntleroy suits were generally for the younger boys. Some particularly doting mothers, however, decided to dress their older boys in a kilted Fautleroy suit, consisting of a lacey blouse and collar, and velvet jacket, just like the traditional Fauntleroy suit. The only difference was a kilt instead of kneepants. In such instances, the outfit of the older boy would generally be a plaid kilt looking like an actual Scottish kilt rather than the solid color kilt suits worn by the younger boys. Apparently, it was more acceptable for an older boy to wear an actual Scottish kilt than the more juvenile kilt suits where the jacket and skirt were made of the same material. I believe the tartans used were usually bright Higland patterns and not the muted plaids worn with kilt suits.
The Funtleroy kilt style first appeared during the mid-1880s along with the Fauntlerou craze. Kilt suits were worn earlier, but not with Faiuntleroy blouses and jackets. It was commonly worn in the 1890s and early 1900s, but began to decline in popularity after the tutn of the 20th century. These Fauntleroy kilt suits were not commonly seen by the 1910s. This foolowed the same chronological trends as the fashion of outfitting young boys in dresses.
We are not sure just what headwear was worn with these Fauntlerpy kilt suits. Many of the available portraits show the boys without any headwear. We do know that the boys wore broad-brimmed hats, often with streamers. We think that this was probably the most common headwear. And we have photographic evidence conforming that these caps were worn with Fauntleroy kilt suits. Contemporary illustrations certainly suggest this. Our photgraphic evidence is more limited. Thus we are not entirely sure. The broad-brimmed hat certainly was not the only headwear. Here we need more information. we are just not sure what other styles were worn. WE suspect that one popular style was the Scottish Gemengary cap.
The jackets for these outfits were generally small jackets without lapels, designed to be worn open so that the elaborate lace trimmed blouse could be seen. The classic jacket was velvet, but many other materials were used. This was especially the case for either summer wear or for inexpenive outfits. Nlack velvet jackets were especilly common when wirn with a tartan kilt. Jackers worn as kilt suits matching the skirt were less commonlybvelvet. While the lace collar and usually matching cuffs were the most prominent feature of the blouse, there was often elaborate matching trim at the front of the blouse. The velvet jacket for these Fauntleroy kilts was often black or some other dark color. Ths was not always the case. The jackets not made in velvet varied more widely in color. , but not always. A few jackets were made in plaid to match the kilt. Others were of the same plain material. These were different than kilt suits, however, in that kilt suits had jackets that were designed to be worn closed with a much less elaborate blouse. The kilt suit jackets often had lapels. The jackets were normally plain, but some had varying detailing such as piping.
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Some of these Faauntleroy suits were worn with vests rather than fancy blouses. Usually a separate lace collar would be worn with a vest rather than an elaborate blouse. Sometimes features of the jacket, such as trim on the sleeves at the wrist would match the vest.
The kilts of these suits varied. They were really skirts, but
generally referred to as kilts, presumably being a term more
approprite for a boy. Some were Scottish plaid. Unlike
kilt suits, which used generally muted plaids, the plaids worn with
Fauntleroy kilts could be, but were not necearily, much brighter plaids than worn with kilt suits. Other of these Fauntleroy kilts were clearly designs vaguly similar to plaid. Many were solid colors, almost always matching the jackets. White the plaid kilts were not worn with matching jackets, the solid color suits almost always did match. They also were almost always dark colors. I'm not sure about just what color
One almost universal accesory for Fautleroy kilts was a brightly colored bow to contrast with the generally dark colored suit. The bows were both solid collrs and patterns. One of the most popular patterns was plaid.
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Mothers employed two basic types of lace collars with Fauntleroy outfits, fancy heavily trimmed blouses and separate lace collars pinned on to the jacket. The blouses were usually worn in the the 1880s with the pinned-on lace collars becoming more common in the 1890s. The lace collars were the same ones that might be worn with a classic Faintleroy suit.
Blouses: The first involved fancy blouses with lace collars and
cuffs as well as front trim in many cases. These blouses varied greastly
in style and trim. Some were amazingly fancy for a boy including ruffles
and lace almost beyond belief. Others were quite plain.
Collars: The second involved a separate lace collar that was pinned on to the jacket. This was a less expensive approach to the Fauntleroy style. It is sometimes easy to determine which is which as the separate lace collar might not have matching wrist trim. Those that did, however, often look quite detincr to the fancy blouses.
These Fauntleroy kilts were generally worn by younger boys not yet ready
for kneepants. This would mean generally boys befinning about 2/3 years. A good example here is
"Elyde Synder & Elyde Porter. We see boys up to 5 or 6 years old wearing them. But because not all boys were breeched by 6 years of ages, some older boys
might wear them. After age 6 when the boys began school they become much less common. In addition, some of these outfits were worn with actual Highland kilts. These were the most likely outfits to be worn by the older boys.
The Highland kilt is worn at knee length. Fauntleroy kilts, however, like kilt suits were almost always worn at longer lengths. The bodice kilts worn by these boys appear often to be calf length. In part this reflected a desire to buy a larger size that their sons could grow into. Even so these kilts can be seen to have been worn well below the knees.
American boys wearing Fauntleroy kilts almost always wore them with long dark stockings. British boys more commonly wore kneesocks with kilt outfits, but this was very rare in America. The long stockings were almost always dark stockings. This was in part because Fauntleroy kilts were worn in the 1880s and 90s and white stockings did not begin to be commonly worn by boys until after the turn of thye century.
Boys in Fautleroy kilts wore a wide variety of hair styles. Some boys had already had their curls cut. Other boys wore long ringlet curls. Many other styles including bangs were worn by the boys in these Fauntleroy kilts. It is interesting to note the many varied hair styles and suits. You might think that the boys wearing the particulrly fancy Fauntleroy blouses would be the most likey to have long hair and ringlet curls. This was not always the case. Some mothers cut a boy's curls before breeching him, but still
purchased fancy lave trimed blouses. Some mothers did not cut a boy's hair when he was breeched, but may have chosen a rather plain Fauntleroy blouse and lace collars.
These Fauntleroy kilts should not be confused with dresses that have
Fauntleroy styling. The basic destinguishing characteristic was that
the dresses were one-piece garments. They were often dark, solid colored
dresses worn with large lace collars and often matching cuffs.
HBC has noted quite a few boys wearing Fauntleroy kilts. This was a very popular style and widely worn in the late-19th abd very early 20h century. We plan to link the various pages of boys wearing Fauntleroy kilts. We have, however, only begun that process.
Fauntleroy Related Pages:
[Returnt to main Fauntleroy page]
[Edwardian Fauntleroy suits]
[Final Fauntleroy period]
[Fauntleroy dresses]
[Lace collars]
[Vivian Burnett]
[Fauntleroy patterns]
Other Related Pages:
[Dresses]
[Kilts]
[Smocks]
[Pinafores]
[Sailor Hats]
[Blouses]
[Ring Bearers]
[Long hair]
[Ringklet curls]
[Hair bows]
[Bangs]
[Collars]
[Bows]
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