Figure 1.-- This professional portrait taken in a Montreal studio on January 30, 1897. Master McMaster looks as though he is about 6 years old. The photo is interesting because of the good detail it gives us about Fauntleroy blouses.

??? McMaster (Canada, 1897)

This professional portrait taken in a Montreal studio on January 30, 1897. Master McMaster looks as though he is about 6 years old. The one thing we do not know about this boy is what kind of hat he wore. The rest of his clothing is shown in great detail. The photo is interesting because of the good detail it gives us about Fauntleroy blouses. Notice the elaborate lace collar and matching lace cuffs. The boy is young enough, apparently, to be very formally dressed without the traditional velvet jacket. We had thought that boys wearing blouses without suit jackets was primarily a summer fashion. This was a difficult prposition to prove because so many old phortraits are not dated. The fact that the boy here was photographed in just his blouse during January suggests that perhaps fancy blouses without the velvet jackets was a year round fashion, although we of course need more than one portrait to substntiate this. Notice that he wears his blouse without a floppy bow, a fashion that was very popular at the time. Also, even though the boy was photographed in mid-winter (very cold in Montreal), he wears white knee pants which do not appear to have ornamental buttons at the hem. He wears strap shoes that fasten around the ankle. Overall the white blouse and pants has a very summertime look. We are not at all sure how common this was for summer wear. We suspect that it was not very common. Notice that the black stockings are quite long and obviously worn with supporters, undoubtedly attached to an underwaist. The haircut with bangs was fashionable for younger boys.







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Created: 5:01 PM 9/28/2005
Last edited: 5:01 PM 9/28/2005