United States Early-20th Century Fashions: Differentiating Decades


Figure 1.--Here we have an undated cabinet card. We would guess it was from the 1900s rather than the 1910s, but are not entirely sure. The children look to be about 7-12 years old. The older boy's detachable collar was more common in the 1900s than 10s. The younger boys collar-buttoning jacket and floppy bow were more common in the 1900s than the 10s. The girl's hair bow was popular in both the 1900s and 10s. We are not sure about the chronological popularity of sailor dresses. The one most useful chronological indicator we miss is boys' pants. Knee pants dominated the 1900s and knickes the 1910s. This is, however, not useful because we can not see the boys' pants and do not know if they are wearing knee pants or knickers. The cabinet cars was a grey mount with impressed studio information. It was also slightly larger than traditional cards and had an oval print frame. We think these characteristics were more common in the 1900s than 10s. The drab grey, grey green color was especially common in the 1900s. Click on the image to see the whole card.

Because most photographs are not dated, we are forced to estimate decades or discard 95 percent of the available photographic record. Some decades are fairly each to identify, others more complicated. Two decades that are a bit tricky or the 1900s and 10s. There is a good deal of fashion overlap over the two decade early-20 century period. There are some differences as well. The similarities and differences include both fashion and photographic formats. Here we want to go over some of these indicators. As HBC expands we hope to acquire sufficent dated images to be able to better differentiate between the two decades. As it stands today we often can not differentiate between the two decades. The one very powerful indicator tool is boys' pants. American boys in the 1900s mostly wore straight-leg knee pants. Suddently for reasins we do not understnd, boys about 1908 began wearing knickers. Knee pants had been the dominant type of boys trousers since the 1880s, but in the space of a year or two were suddently replaced by knickers. This as a general rule, if the boys are wearing knee pants, it is a 1900s image and if they are wearing knickers it is a 1910s. The trend is a little complicated by the fact that younger boys into the early primary years tended to wear knee pants a little longer than older boys and this trend continued after the World War I in the 1920s when short pants appeared. We see fewer older boys wearing shortened-length pnts inthe 1910s, but this trend was not nearly as pronounced as in the 1900s. As with any fashion indicator, this is not an absolute rule, but it is a very string indicator which can be used. We have not yet found a similar strong indicator associated with girls' fashions. In working on this dating effort, we of course invite readers to comment.

Garment Trends

We note some of the major garments worn by American boys in the early 20th century. We see some major changed in headwear during the early 20th century. The wide-brimmed sailor cap popular in the late 19th Century continued to be worn with formal outfits for younger boys after the turn of the century. We no longer see boys commonly wearing the rounded crown hats popular in rural areas. Some boys wore boaters and we see a felt hat that had an only slightly peaked crown. The major development was the increasing popularity of caps. There were everal styles, but gradually gthe flat cap emerged by the 1910s as the standard American boys' cap. The fashion of outfitting boys in dresses continued to be quite common at the turn of the century. Little boys in 1900 continued to wears dress, although as the decade progressed they no longer wore the more girlish styles with elaborate lace and ruffle trim. The age of boys wearing dresses began to decline. While the practice of outfitting boys in dresses, continued in the 1910s, it was becoming much less common. Rompers were widely worn by boys after the turn of the century. They may have appeared before 1900, but they were not widely worn in the 1980s. They were a style for generally younger boys. Many of the boys outfitted in rompers might have worn dresses before the turn of the century. American boys mostly wore kneepants at the turn of the Century. As the decacde progressed knickers became increasingly popular and were the dominant by the 1910s. Short pants began to apeear in the 1910s, but they were not nearly as popular in America as they proved to be in Europe. American boys in the 1900s mostly wore long stockings with knee pants, even during the summer. Dark black stockings were the most common, but dark brown was also worn. Light-colored long stockings were not common. Younger boys might wear white long stockings on dressy occasions, but black was more common. Younger boys might wear their kneepants with socks, usually three-quater length socks, especially during the summer. Older boys, however, did not wear such socks with either kneepants or knickers.

Photographic Format Trends

Photographic formats are also helpful in dating images. Cabinet cards were still common, epecially in the 1900s, but we see new styles of mounts and a greater range of sizes. Cabinet cards were still very common in the 1900s, but began to decline in poularity during the 1910s. Aspects of these cards can be dated and we are working on this was we find dated examples. And with the Kodak Browie we see the beginning of the snap shot and amateur photography moving outside the photographic studio. This led to post-card back images. These began to appear about 1904 and using the stamp boxes can be dated to some extent.

Laundry

Laundry began to change in the early-20th century. Both washing machines and modern laundry detergents were not yet available in the early-20th century. We do not yet have modern detergents, but World War I (1914-18) would lead to major advances in chemistry that would lead to practical changes in consumer products during the Inter-War era. The electrial washing machine appeared in the early-20th century. The Thor was the first electric-powered washing machine. It was introduced by the Hurley Machine Company of Chicago, Illinois (1908). They did not become common, however, until the Inter-War era. All this meant that major changes were coming, but not yet a major factor in 1the 1900s and 10s. This means that white was still very common in children's clothing. Without modern detergents, bleach was commonly used by mothers. This meant that colored shirts and dresses tended fade after repeated washings. This we still see a lot of white shirts and tunics for the boys and white dresses for the girls in the 1900 and 10s. This continued to change after World War in the the 1920s, especially after the beginning of the decade. This does not help differentiate 1900s and 1910s images, but it does help to differentiate early-20th century images from those taken in the inter-War era.










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Created: 7:58 PM 4/22/2016
Last updated: 6:47 AM 4/7/2017