*** United States boys clothes : chronology 19th century








United States Boys' Clothes: Chronology--The 19th Century


Figure 1.--Before photography, our image archive is very limited. This portrait of the red-headed Congdon boys was painted by an unknown artist. Naive artists did not produced master works, but they have left us very accurate depictions of the clothes, including colors. We might guess it was taken in the 1820s. One source suggests it was painted about 1830.

Our information on America in the 19th century is incomplete. We know relatively little about the early 19th century. We believe that boys in the cities generally were dressed in styles from Europe, especially Britain. We see styles like skeleton suits and tunics in available paintings and drawings. We know much less about rural America. This was wear most Americans lived, but the people there were not wealthy and were not very likely to pay even a naive artist to paint a portrait. This changes at mid-century when photography appeared from Europe. The photography industry exploded in America. As a result, beginning in the 1840s we have increasingly large numbers of images of how people dressed. Along with the developmentb of photography was the steady industrialization and growth of cities in America. The number of images increased even more in the 1860s with the development of the CDV and cabinet card. Most of the images are studio portraits so they generally show people dressed up in their best clothes. The first photographic poetraits like Daguerreotypes were expensive, but prices steadily declined as the century progrrsssed sonby the 1890s the economic boas in the photographic record feclined. Shortened-length pants appeared at mid-century, but were worn mostly by boys from well-to-do families in cities. Gradually knee pants bdcome more common until by the 1890s we see boys wearingbknee pants into their teens and increasingly, but to a less extent in rural areas. And by the end of the century, America passed the threshold of a half of the population living in cities.

Early-19th Century (1800-1840)

American boys dressed up in styles reflecting the latest European styles. The idea of specialized styles for children were beginning to become widely accepted. Many of the popular styles for boys were empire styles originating in France, although many were passed on through England. Little boys wore dresses, often the long dresses popular at the time. Older boys might wear skeleton suits with open ruffled collars. Tnivs werealso popular. These of course the fashion of the prosperous families in the growing northeastern cities. The great bulk of the population still lived in rural areas on small family farms. Before the era of photography, we have veryblimited information on how they dressed. Painted portraits were far too expensive for most Americans. The exception to the general pattern of course were the southern planters who were develooing large plantations with a slave labor force. Interestingly at the turn of the century men wore knee breeches, the typical costume presidents like Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe wear. Boys on the other hand, once breeched, would might wear long pants skeleton suits. Academic sources report that early as the 1830s, social trends like urbanization and industrialization were beginning to change merica from the agrarian and craft-based economy of the 18th century. The impact was far reaching. One result was to create youth who spent more time in school and were thus more dependent on their parents for a longer period. Until the early 19th century, most boys lived on the farm or were apreticed at about age 12. This began to change by the 1830s with more boys continuing their education in schools for longer periods. This development was to give rise to a new phemomenon--youth culture that was to have a great impact on fashion and dress.

Americamn 19th centurty collar buttoning jacket
Figure 2.--Thanks to photograph we begin to see large numbers of images for the furst time, espoecially in America where photography was most common. The first images were Daguerreotypes, but but the 1850s we begin to see other format like the colorized Ambtrotype here. Almost all of the images arec formal studio portraits. The subjects had to hild still for an extended period explaining why almost all or sitting doiwn by a table. This boy wears a cut-away jacket and vest with long trousers. Notice that the jacket abd triusers do not match. Hair styles tended to be long, down to thec ears.

Mid-19th Century (1840-70)

The pace of growth quickened at mid-century. The oopulation was still largely rural, but cities and the proprtion of utbsanized population was growinhg. And with urbanization and industriaoization, incomes were rising. This inevitably affected fashion and the clothing industry. Styles werec still set in Eurooe, but more and more Americans were becoming able to affird the trendy European fashions. Boys' fashions at mid-19th Century were in a fluid state. The only styles such as tunics and skeleton suits were now less commonly worn. The new styles introduced, mostly originating in England, like kilts, sailor suits, and knee pants had appeared, but were still being accepted. We see increasingly well-tailored garments, especially by the 1860s. The Civil War was a huge boost to the clothing industry and ready-made clothing. Among other impacts, it brought the cost of clothing down. This and rausing incomes was a formulae for the growing interest in fashion zand the ability to participate in the evolving, increasingly fashionable society. Farm parents might not care all that much with fasgionzble cloythes fir their children, city parents did. Some major styles like Fauntleroy and Buster Brown suits had not yet appeared. Boys tended to wear rather non-discript, plain suits with short jackets and long pants. Their collars and bows were generaly small. One important development was photography, which was perfected at mid-century and increasing numbers of images were soon availabe, revealing fashion trends in increasing details. The fashion magazines also appeared at mid-century, providing even more information.

"merican sailor suits"
Figure 3.--Boys and girls both commonly dressed in sailor suits by the late 19th century. These boys wear reefer style jackets and caps modeled on the caps worn by American sailors. The boy on the right is will become one of the most important leaders of the 20th century--Franklin Roosevelt. He is visiting his cousins (Helen and Taddy) their English house (1889).

Late-19th Century (1870-1900)

Little American boys from 3 to 6 years, still wore dresses, although now dresses especially designed for boys appeared. Older boys wore kilts, sailor suits, Norfolk suits and other English fashions. Smocks were used for both boys and girls to protect expensive clothes. Easy to care for fabrics were generations away. One new fashion appearing in America in the the 1880s was the Fauntleroy suit. It was the sailor suit, however, that proved to be most enduring of these fashions. It was popular with both mothers and boys, unlike some of the alternatives like Fauntleroy suits and kilts. Even girls in the 1880s began wearing sailor suits, middy blouses with skirts. The most recognizable style of the late 19th century is of course the Little Lord Fauntleroy suit made famous by Francis Hobson Bennett's classic novel, Little Lord Fauntleroy. The velvet suit, lace collar, and of corse ringlet curls became the bane of American boyhood. The style was not created in a vaccume. Mothers had begun to dress little boys in fancy velvet suits, but the publication of the book created a Fauntleroy craze and soon increasibgly fancy outfits for small boys. Some mothers even dressed older boys in the elaborate outfits.







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Created: 10:48 AM 10/14/2010
Last updated: 3:31 AM 5/5/2012