Figure 1.-- This Swiss cabinet card ppportait shows an unidentified boy wearing a velvet Fauntleroy suit. The large white collar is not as fancy as American Fauntleroy outfit, but it is large and scalloped. Notice he has aplain vest rather thn fabcy blouse. His bow is very simple, unlike the huge floppy bows won by American boys. The portrait is undated, but looks like the 1890s to us. The boy looks to be about 7 years old. The studio was something lik Osw. Wette in Lausanne. This is a city on Lake Geneva in the French-speaking region of Vaud. Acros the fiver to the south is France.

We notice a variety of suits in Switerlnd done specially for younger boys as was the case in other European countries. We do not see any especially Swiss designs. What we see are the same stylws we see in other Western European countries. Many of these were different than standard suits in that they did not necessarily include a jacket. And we see suit outfits with jackets. These infludes Little Lord Fauntleroy suits. The Fauntleroy suit was primarily an American style, inspired by fancy outfits Mrs. Buenett, the aithor of Little Lord Fauntleroy saw while living in Paris. She published her book (1885) and without really intending to do so launched the Fauntleroy Craze. This was mpre prounounced in America, but we see the suits in Europe as well. This was especially the case in Britain, but we see it as well in France. Fauntleroy suits seem far less commom in Germany. Our Swiss archive is limited. We have very few examples of Swiss Fauntleroy suits or Fauntleroy styling elements. We are not sure, however, what this reflects. It could be actual prevalence durung the Fauntleroy Craze of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Or it could more the limited size of our archive. So far the examples we have found are from the French-speaking cantons. The German cantons seem to reflect German fashions where the Fauntleroy suit does not seem to be very popular.

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Created: 4:16 AM 6/24/2016
Last updated: 4:16 AM 6/24/2016