Figure 1.--This CDV portrait shows a Brussels boy with an Eton-like cdetachable collar, but with rounded tips. We at fiest thought he was wearing a checked shirt, but there are no buttons. Perhaps it is an ascot. We thought at first the portrait was taken in the 1890s, but our CDV mount information is primarily based on American CDVs. On the back the studio brags about winning the 1** Prix pour Grands Portraits Exposition de Paris 1870. This leads us to believe the portrait was taken in the 1870s. We do not think they would continue to use an 1870 award to maitain an aura of quality into the 1880s.

We do not yet have much information on Belgian shirts and blouses. Our 19th century Belgian archive is very limited. And most 19th century portraits show boys wearing suits and vests which means we can see very little of the blouses and shirts that they are wearing under them except or he collar. The boy here is a good example. All we can see clearly is the collar which looks to be a detachable collar (figure 1). This severly limits are ability to collect information on-shirt-like garment during the century. Most of what we have found is views of the collars which in many cases were detachable collars. We see some Eton collars, but they do not seem to be as large or the standardized pointed style that we see in England. We have more information on the 20th century, especially after World War I as boys more commonly wore shirts without jackets and of course photograophy moved beyound the photographic studio. Blouses for boys gradually declined in popularity. Shirts with military styling appear to have been worn in the early-1950s. The image on the previous page is a good example.

Shirt-like Garments

There are several different types of shirt-like garmemts. We van't tell much about shit styling except for the collar in the 19th century because most of the vacilable images were studio portraits and the boys are weating suit jackets. We see more of the shirts in the 20th century with the appearance of family snaphots. We now see mnot only the collar but shirt and bodice front. We see casual styles including polos and collar T-shirts. Shirts with military styling appear to have been worn after World War II in the early-1950s. The image on the previous page is a good example. The most common shirt-like garment today is the shirt, but in the 19th- and early-20th century, blouses were also very common. The difference is primarily that many, but not all shirts had tails that were tucked in the waist of the pants that boys wore. Collared shirts were most likely to have tails. Many casual shirts especially collarless shirts like T-shirts and polos did not have tails. Blouses did not have tails. They got their name from the way that many blouses filled out at the waist. This was an effect created by a waist draw string. Since the early-20th century this was no longer very commonm. Blouse became more of a girl's garment, although younger boys might wear them, especially for dress up occassions. In addition to shirts and blouses, there were also shirt-like garments such as shirt waists. These were tops without collars. They were worn with the detachable collars that were popular in the late-19th and early-20 century. This often meant Eton collars, but there many other collar styles.

Chronology

Types of shirt-like garments have changed over time. Our 19th century infomation is limited. We see both blouses and shirts in the early-19th century. Shirt waists appeared at mid-century along with detachable collar. Most 19th century portraits show boys wearing suits and vests which means we can see very little of the blouses and shirts that they are wearing under them except or he collar. The boy here is a good example. All we can see clearly is the collar which looks to be a detachable collar (figure 1). This severly limits are ability to collect information on-shirt-like garment during the century. Most of what we have found is views of the collars which in many cases were detachable collars. We see some Eton collars, but they do not seem to be as large or the standardized pointed style that we see in England. We have more information on the 20th century, especially after World War I as boys more commonly wore shirts without jackets and of course photograophy moved beyound the photographic studio. Blouses for boys gradually declined in popularity. Men mostly wore shirts with tails that could be tucked in. They also wore shirt waists with detachable collars. Boys wore all three in the 19th century. After the turn-of-the 20th century this began to change. Boys still wore blouses in the early-20th century,but this changed rapidly after World War I in the 1920s. Boys by the 1930s most wore shirts except for the uounger pre-school boys. We also see more differet types of mostly casual styles such as T-shirts.

Elements

The primary elements of a shirt are the collar, bodice, sleeves, and cuffs. The most detinctive element of a shirt or blouse and the most vissible is uually the collar. In the 19th century when suit jackets were commonly worn this could be all you could see of a short or blouse. There aremany diiferent styles as wll as attached and detacable collar. Collars varied great in size. We see some collars that just pealed out ablove th jacket a well as huge collars that amost engulphef youngr boys. Shirt waists did not have collars. The nodice varied depebding on wheter it buttoned up the front or was a pullover like a T-shirt or a turtle neck. There wee also mshorts that only buttoned part nof the way bdown rom the collar. This was rugby style. Shirts and blouses, especiall dress shirts have front plackets. This is a strip of fabric that is folded back over and sewn to support the buttons. Dress shirts have fused interlinings to give them a crisp, dressy look. Sleeves vary in length. In the 19th century shirts and blouses were worn with lomg sleeves although girls dreses were more varied. In the 20th century we see long sleeves, half sleeves, and short sleeves. We do not see sleeves below the elbow. Cuffs on long sleeves varied. Some were doubled over and worn with cuff links. But this was not very common for boys.

Dickey

A dickey is an article of clothing made to look like the front or collar of a shirt, blouse, vest, etc., worn as a separate piece under another garment, as a jacket or dress. Fir noys they were most commonly worn with ailor blouses.

Shirting

Gender

Created: 3:37 AM 10/26/2017
Last updated: 1:26 AM 5/4/2019