Figure 1.--This postcard-back photograph shows a group of church goers. It appears to be somewhere between Paris and the coast. The group, apprently a church congregation were photographed on steps in front of a church. As they are dressed up, we suspect they have just got out of the church after a sunday service. The post card is undated, but we would guess it was taken in the early-1910s. It is a wonderful image showing period fashions, how both adults and children dressed for church. Sailor suits were clearly very popular for the boys. We don't see any broad-brimmed hats, but quite a few caps. Notice how common gloves were. We see mostly women and young people, not many men. The studio was R.Guilleminot, Boespflug et ???, Paris which is we think it was near Paris. We are sure if they took the portrait or just devloped snapshots. Put your cursor on the image to see the rest of the group. Click here for a futher discission and to read the message on the back of the card.

The first two decades of the 20th century have to be divided into two very different eras. First the era of the full blooming of European culture ('la belle époque') followed in stunning contrast by the tragedy of World War I. The French look back on the early 20th century with great affection--certinly in comoarison to what followed. Turn of the Century France was a very interesting time and place for fashion. Women's fashions of course was the predominate interest. But stylish children's clothes were also developed. There were not a lot of new styles, but many refinements on old styles. The British and Americans began to become increasingly inhibited about fancy clothes for boys. This inhibition was less prevalent in France. Unfortunately we do not have much fashion literatute describing the styles or explaining the developments. We have had to rely basically on available images to describe the styles and try to trace developments. Many of the images come from post cards, which were widely used at the time for greeting cards but often somewhat fanciful. As a result they probably reflect fancier clothes than generally worn at the time, but are a good indication of general styles and how mothers would like to dress their little darlings. Gradually as HBC expnds we have begun to acquire an increasing numberof ctual photographs, both portraits and snapshots that is geling us build a more reasonble view of the era. Available information suggests that it was a very interesting period in the development of children's fashions. Some 19th century fashions remained popular, but new styles were introduced--the most important being short pants and knee socks. And some of the more adsurd fashions like Fauntleroy suits disappeared.

The 1900s: La belle époque

The French look back on the early 20th century with great affection. The nmed the years before World War I (1900-14) the "La belle époque"-- the Beautiful Era. It became so popular that dicussios of the era almost always use the Frenchbterm without translate. It was a time of cultural development and great economic and technical development. Some of the flavor of the era is recorded in French post cards--which were enormously popular during this era, leaving us with many fasinating images. After the turn of the century, many of formal fashions trends of the late-19th century continued. This included boys clothing. Some major changes in boys clothes began after the turn-of-the century. Headwear for boysmade a definitive shift from hts to caps, alyhough some younger boys still wore wide-brimmed hats early in the decade and boaters wcontnue to be popular for fashionanle older boys. We see berets, but no with dressy outfits. Older boys were no longer outfitted in dresses. The convention of younger boys wearing dresses very suddenly declined, a process that began a few years before the turn-of-the century. The Fauntleroy fashion which had been so popular in the 1890s suddenly declined in popularity, although we continue to see some Fauntleroy touches such as floppy bows. What did not disappear was the sailor suit and sailor fashions. They were enormous popular during the decade. Boys continued to wear smocks to school. Boys began increasingly wearing short pants without long stockings. Long hair for boys became less common as did hairbows. Tunics with short pants or knicker-like bloomers became a common style. Other styles continued such as Faumtleroy suits and sailor suits. Many of the older 19th Century styles continued to be worn and did not finally disappear until after World War I (1914-18). Many of the styles were similar to those worn in other European countries, but dresses and long hair for boys continued more popular in France longer than in many other countries and short pants were particularly popular.

The 1910s

The 1910s was a split decade. The decade began as part of la belle époque with all its optimisim and achievements and then turned almost unbelevably to the dark tragedy of World War I. The early 1910s were esentially a continuation of the 1900s belle époque with minimal change in fashion. We do note a continution of the 1900s trends. We see fewer boys in dresses and very few full Fauntleroy suits. Broad-brimmed hts took on a few look with turned down brims. We continue to see berets. , Sailor suits continued to be very popular. We see many boys dressing up in sailor suits. We are less sure about school as so many boys wore smocks. School boys mayvhave even wore smocks more than in the 1900s as clothing like all consumer producrs became harder to obtain during the war. We no longer see many French children wearing long stockings, except perhaps in the nort during thw the inter or for formal occasions. Some gurls wore them for modesty, but this was becoming less common. The most important event occuring in France and Europe at large during the early 20th century was World War I. The War had an enormous impact on fashion--including boys' fashions. Fashion which was an imprtant part of 'le belle époque' suddenly became seen as frivolus an unfashionable so the speak. Utilitarian and practicality becme the order of the day. The trend toward casual, less formal fashions was given a tremendous impetus by the War. HBC has, however, not fully assessed the impact of the War. We note a very significan shift in fashion after the War.

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Created: 7:04 PM 2/11/2016
Last updated: 7:04 PM 2/11/2016