Figure 1.--Here we see a wealthy American family, we think in the late-1890s. Notice the boys Fauntleroy lace collar. The white beret was, however, unusual for the 19th century.

Younger boys still wore dresses in the 1890s. There seems to be more of a trend to differentiate boys and girls clothing. We note boy dresses bing advertized. The conventionof boys wearing drsses which has existed for centuries seemed to decline in popular in the later part of the decade. We are not entirely sure why. We think the popularity of the kilt suit and Fauntleroy suit were factors here. Smocks were not common in America except in rather affluent families. The styles of the 1880s, such as kilt suits, Fauntleroy suits, and sailors suits continued to be popular. The sailor suit was especiallly popular and was now also worn by girls, but with skirts rather than kneepants. Fancy styles such as Fauntleroy suits reached their peak of popularity in the 1890s as were sailor suits. Boys commonly wore blouses, often with large collars, with knee pants and long stockings, mostly black long stockings. Kneepants were now widely worn by boys of all ages. We see even older teenagers wearing knee pants by the end of the decade. Most boys wore kneepants, mostly with long stockings. Some boys might wear long hair, in some cases in ringlet curls. By the end of the decade many boys were weraing tunic suits. The new style of tunic or blouse suits, made in various styles (sailor, Russian, and Buster Brown) were enormously popular and began to replace the kilt suit. Boys mostly wore short hair in the 1890s. Some boys, however, wore ringlet curls. While worn by a minority of boys, we see many portraits of boys wearig long ringlet curls, especially with fauntleroy suits, but also with sailor suits. The fashion of ringlets was more popular in America than in other countries.

Decade Overview

The 1890s was a decade of emense industrial growth in the United States. This was the decade that the frontier closed and America made the shift from a primarily agricultural to a primarily undustrial country. Industrial expansion brought unparalleled prosperity to American and the growth of the middle class. America emerged in the 1890s as the preeminent world industrial power. An expresion of America's growing industrial economy was the Colombian Exhibition (1893). America's industrial growth was a development duly noted in Britain, but not so widely in Germany. This had a significant impact on fashions and the garment idustry as the American consumer had money for a wide range of consumer goods and one of these was certainly fashion. American children were better dressed in the 1890s than ever before because parents had the money to spend. The United States began its own imperial outreach in the 1890s with the Spanish American war (1898-99). And there was a huge inflow of mostly European immigrants thoughout the decade. These immigrants played a major role in building an industrial work force.

Photography

Photography during the 19th century was primarily studio photography. The photography record is mostly portraits taken in studios. Now we have images in numbers never before seen. A painted portrait was expensive. Photographs cost a fraction of that of a painted portraits, even Daguerreotypes which were the most expensive type of photogrphic portrait. Now there were photographs taken outside the studio. such as the famous Brady Civil War photograohs (1860s), but in fact Brady and others took ther studio with them in a horse-drawn waggon. This was possible for historic events. There was a lucrative market for these images. It ws not conomical for individual or family portraits. Gradually the technology improved allowing for group portraits. Again group portraits were possible because a lot of people wanted copies. But you do not see many examples of mom or probably dad taking pictures of litte Johnny playing in the backyard. Technological advances gradually made amateur photography possible, but it continued to be both expensive and complicated. Only the most avid hobbyist wuld pursue photography. But we begin to see more amateur family work as technology advanced, especially in the 1890s. But the major change would come with the Kodak Brownie (1900). Thus the family snapshot would be a 20th century phenomenon.

Garments

We have detailed information on the farments popular in the 1890s thanks to the enormous photograohic record. Younger boys might wear skirted garments, although this century-old convention began to decline after mid-decade. We are not sure just why. We suspect that the popularity of Fauntleroy suits was a factor. The skirted garment we see most commonly is the kilt suit and by the turn-of-the century tunic suits. Headwear was diverse. Younger boys might wear hats. Wide-brimmed sailor hats were common. Older boys wore both caps and hats of various styles. The 1890s was the last decade we see large numbers of boys wearing hats. Fauntleroy blouses were very common. Yonger boys especially fancy blouses without jacket during the summer. Older boys did so as well. They were done with large ruffled collars. School-age boys might wear Fauntleroy blouses with regular suit jackets. Neckwear varied. Huge floppy bows were still common. We see both collar-buttoning and lapel jackets. We also see Eton collars, although thy ere not nearly as common as in Britain. Sailor suits were also popular. Knee pants became standard dyring the decade and were if not vuniversal, very close to it. They were somewht less common in rural areas, especially for older boys. Long stocking were virtually universal for both boy and girls. Dark long stockings, especially black, were very common. Children and adults mostly wore high-top shoes. Many children went barefoot in the summer, especially in the countryside.

Age Grading

Children's clothing age grading was very common in America during the 1890s. This is not readily apparent bin many photographs, especially individual potraits. which do mot depict children of different ages. Family portraits, however, are a different matter. They show childrn of various ages and how paremts, usually the mothers varied outfits on the basis of age. Sometimes wee see differenvce in children only a year or two separated. We have not found much in writing about these differences, but the photographic record shows the details in considerable detail. There was no definitive rules here. And there were differences between families as well as demographic and social class differences. Even so we casn see mamy general patterns emerging from the photographic record. Some of the moist items used for grading included headwear, collars, bows,suit styling, skirts, and trousers. All of this was further complicated by choices with hair styling and breeching.

Demographics

America crossed a major demographic milestone in the 1890s. By the end of the decade we find the country crossing into half the people living in the cities. This was the result ofthe steady industrialization of the country. American in the 1890s became a major world power in industrial capacity. This was not fully recognized in Europe, although Britain and other countries were having increasing problems competing with American industry. The railroad was rapidly changing the face of the country. Rivers played an important role in determining settlment of eastern America. Amertica by the 1890s had the largest rail system in the world. And it was the railroads that would be the primary factor in settling America west of the Mississippi. And by the 1890s, European immigration was beginning to make fundamental changes in the ethnic and religious make up of the country, especiallybin the northeast and industrial Midwest. The South remained lasrgely rural, although the progressive movementin the Noth was beginning to cause the textile industry to shift south. Most black Americans continued to live in rural areas of the south in abject poverty, restricted by the Jim Crow segregationit laws. We begin to see more photography outside the studio in the 1890s which provide interesting demographic images, but it was not until the 1900s that we see large number of amateur snapshots that depictevery aspect of American life.

Activities

The principal activity for boys in the 1890s was school. The public scgool system was well established by the 1890s. It was one of the besrt in the world. Many boys had to work at the time. Child labor laws were not well estanlished, although some states had began to pass both compulsory attendance and child labor laws. Religion was another important activity. Many children attended sunday schools and events like Firrt Communion aznd Confirmation were importyant. We begin to lear more about boys' leisure activities in the 1890s, in part because we start to see what look like snapshots and not just studio portraiture. Photography was still fairly complicated and only only real ethusiasts were involved. Most photography was still studio photography, but we do see some outdoors people giving us some insights on the activities in which boys were involved. Modern sports had begun to take their modern form. Baseball and football were well established. Basketball was invented (1891) and very rapidly became a popular school sport. There were not a lot of facilities for youth sports outside of schools, so we see a lot of children playing in the streets and vacant lots. We see boys playing a variety of games. Shooting marbles were very popular. We also see more boys learning musical instruments. Boys also went to dance lessons.

Hair Styles

Boys mostly wore short hair in the 1890s. Some boys, however, wore ringlet curls. While worn by a minority of boys, we see many portraits of boys wearig long ringlet curls, especially with fauntleroy suits, but also with sailor suits. The fashion of ringlets was more popular in America than in other countries.

Figure 2.--The American pnchant for photography, means that there is a huge photographoic record. Nost of it was studio photography, but by the 1890s we begin to see an increasing mumber of images shot outsdide the studio. Anong the many images, the family reunion had become increasingly popular.

Families

We see a range of 1890s outfits in family portraits archived on HBC. Many mothers used age grading on outfits. Younger boys wore dresses. Some were done in boy styles. Plaid was popular for boys' dresses. After breeching boys might wear Fauntlroy suits, sometimes with ringlet curls. Boys very commonly wore sailor suits. There were a range of different suit styles. Boys often wore suit jackets that buttobed at the collar rather than more adult sack suits with lapels. Boys might just wear blouses during the summer. It was common to add lace or ruffled collars. The ruffled collars gradually replaced the lace collars as the decade progressed. Some mothers added large floppy bows. Kneepants became almost universal for boys and by the end of the decade quite old boys were wearing them. Boys commonly wire long stockings, although rural boys would go barefoot during the summer.A popular convention was to dress all the children alire or to coordinate their outfits. There were importnt regionzal and class differences.

Homes

Most photographs in the 19th century were formal studio portraits. We dee very few home interior photographs. We get something of the feel for homes with the studio set ups, but that is not the same as actual photographs. We see a few interior photographs during the 1890s. A good example is Harold Wilson in 1897. Harold was from a well-to-do family with a Cape Cod summer house.

Individual Boys

Younger boys still commonly wore dresses in the 1890s, although kilt suits were also very popular. At about mid-decade dresses behin to become less commom, although we are not entorely sure why. Tunics begin to become especially popular for younger boys by the end of the decade. The Fauntleroy suit was very popular for boys, especially in America. Ruffled collars begin to replace lace collars. The sailor suit was popular just about every where. Sailor hats were worn with both sailor and other outfits. Many boys wore collar buttoning suits, often with touches like large fancy collsrs and floppy bows. Most boys wore knee pans, both in Europe and America. American boys mostly wore long stockings, especially black stockings. Both socks and stockings were common in Europe. Most boys had short hair, but we seen some mostly younger boys with long hair. Americans boys often had long hair done in bangs.

Children's Garments

We like to see not only how boys dressed in each decade, but we also want to see how girls dressed at the same time. It is interesting to see what boys' garments went with girls garments. This can be seen in the various school images we have archived. But we have other images including boys and girls. This includes portrait if siblings as well as other group photographs. We begin to see more outdoor scenes in the 1890s, although studio photography still dominated. We still see boys and girls mostly dressed up. The girls almost always wore dresses all the time. Some of the few exceptions are school gym and swimming here the girls tended to wear voluminous bloomer outfits. The dresses seem rather voluminous. We see many more dresses than blouses and skirts. Decorations varied. Large collars and bows were not as common as for the boys, but we do see a few girls with lace collars. Some dresses hed virtually no collars other had decorated collars. The sleeves were commonly voluminous, this was a characteristic style of the 1890s.

Ages

Parents had definite ideas about the garmnts appropriae for different ages. The exact age conventions varied from family to family. Young boys throgout the19th century wore dresses or oher skirted garments until breeching. This varied from family to family,but generally took place from 3-6 yeats of age. Social class differences were a factor here. This had been the case for centuries, but we notice notable changes. We see fewer boys wearing dresses. We re not sure about the chronology, but we do see this shift becoming more pronouced as the decade progressed. We see more boys wearing kilt suits than dresses and to an older age than dressed. We also see a lot of boys being breeched at at an earlier age than common in the 19th century. This seems to have been at least partly the result of the Fauntleroy craze. Fauntlerou suits done with knee pants were so popular that many mothers were willing to breech their boys earlier than they might have done. Sailor suits were a style that kind bridged the gap between these juvenile styles and older boy styles and were very popular during the 1890s. For the most part when boys began school at about age 6 years they were breeched and wearing knee pants suits. This is confirmed by the photographic record. Some boys from well-to-do families might be tutored at home and contine to wear more juvenile styles. The same geneal pattern was true of hair cuts. Boys generally wore short hair, at least school-age boys. Younger boys might have longer hair and curls, The age at wgich a boy's hair was cut was another mater like breeching hat families had to decide. Again social-class factors were involved. As a result of the Fauntlroy raze, we see quite anumber of boys with riglet curls.

Groups

We notice a range of group photographs in the 1890s. We can not identify them all, but some are easy to identify. These are very valuable in assessing children's fashions. Fanily portraits with one or two children can be misleading. Some mothers dressed children differently from the mormal trends. Of course the more individual children rchived, the less this becomes a factor. When you have group portraits with multiple children of all ages and gender, hioever, the more you are likely to see the larger trends. You are more likely to get a range of outfits providing a good idea about the major fashion trends. It is in the school images of course that The most useful is school portraits which in the United States, unlike Europe included boys and girlss. We have both a school trend section and pages on individual schools. School portraits in the 1890s became very common photogrphy improved and became incerasingly affordable. We see class portraits from all over the country, including one-room schools on the rapidly shrinking western frontier. We see boys commonly wearing suits to school, even in country schools, although there boys in warm weather commonly just wore blouses and knee pants. Many boys wore straight-leg knee pants. Knickers were not very common, but we see them at some private schools. The type of pants did vary. We see boys at some schools wearing long pants. We are not entirely sure why there were such variations. Age of course was a factor. Boys and girls commonly wore long stockings. Black long stokings were especially common. Many younger boys wore blouses with large collars, sometimes ruffled Fauntleroy collars. We also see sailor suits, especially in urban schools. Girls wore dresses, often with pinafores. Many children came to school barefoot, especially in rural areas. School groups are esily the most available, but not the only groups to study. There are several other groups we have found in the photographic record. There are also religious groups. We notice both Church groups as well as Sunday School groups. Sometimes children attended the services. In other cases they attended special Sunday Schools for them. There were also revivals. Here we commonly see the children dressed up in their best clothes. Other popular group event were family reunions and community picnics. It is not always possible to discern the group involved in images we have found.

Catalogs and Advertisements

Mail order catalogs in the 1890s provide a valuable record of the sshions worn as the age of the boys wearing them as well as other details such as finishing and materials. Mail order catalogs offered a variety of clothes for boys in the 1890s, including dresses, kilt suits, Fauntleroy suits and blouses, sailor suits, and knee pamts and long pants suits as well as a wide range of accessories.

Created: 5:08 PM 6/10/2008
Last updated: 3:27 PM 3/30/2023