Figure 1.--These boys wore very similar suits and identical collars and neckwear. The younger brother, however, wears knee pants and long stockings. We do not know where this portrait was taken, but it was made oin a photo car, presumablt a rail road studio. Thec boys look like they might be Norwegian or Swedish so we would guess the upper-Midwest. The portrait was probably taken in the 1890s.

There were different approaches to age gradeing useing clothing. Many mothers focused exclusively on clothing. Many age associated clothing conventions these have varied over time as well as the populatrity of age-graded clothing itself. This varied with the size of the family. Thus we see families with several children altering the outfits to some extent varying on the child's age. Sometimes the variations are minor such as just changeing the collar and/or neckwear. This was particularly popular in the late 19th and vert-early 20th century when floppy bows and large collars were stylish. Here moinor variations could be use for each child in a large family. This also made in very easy tto add or remove age gradeing touches. Others are more significant such as varying the type of shirt/blouse and trousers. Younger boys might wear blouses with sylish, sometimes very large collars. Younger boys might wear various skirted garments. They also from the mid-19th to the mid-20 century commonly wore shortend-length pants, including knee pants, knickers, and short oants. We have age gradeing discussions on many of the specific garment pages and will link those pages here.

Approaches

There were different approaches to age gradeing useing clothing. Many mothers focused exclusively on clothing. Many age associated clothing conventions these have varied over time as well as the populatrity of age-graded clothing itself. This varied with the size of the family. Thus we see families with several children altering the outfits to some extent varying on the child's age. This convention is in contrat to another popular convention, dressing the children identically. The two basic approaches were making minor changes in the boys outfits to signal age leels. This was commonly done with items like collars and bows. The other basic system was to choese entirely different outfits for boys of different ages. U=Yonger boys might wears dresses, kilt suis, tunic, or sailor suits. Older boys would wear standard sack suits.

Garments

We note a wide variety of clothes employed for age gradeing. Several garments were particularly common for use in age gradeing. We have age gradeing discussions on many of the specific garment pages and will link those pages here. There were a variety of sestinctive headwear for younger boys. Skirted garments and trousered suits might destinguish younger and older boys. Collars and neckwear might be used to differenate boys of different ages. Shortened-length pants were commonly used for younger boys. Hisiery and shoe types were also used in age gradeing.

Chronology

We do not have much information on the early 19th century, but we know a great deal about the late 19th century, thanks to photography. Sometimes the variations are minor such as just changeing the collar and/or neckwear. This was particularly popular in the late 19th and vert-early 20th century when floppy bows and large collars were stylish. Here moinor variations could be use for each child in a large family. This also made in very easy to add or remove age gradeing touches. Others are more significant such as varying the type of shirt/blouse and trousers. Younger boys might wear blouses with sylish, sometimes very large collars. Younger boys might wear various skirted garments. They also from the mid-19th to the mid-20 century commonly wore shortend-length pants, including knee pants, knickers, and short oants. Age gradeing is much less common in the 21st century, in part because large families were no longer common.

Created: 9:40 AM 6/27/20088
Last updated: 11:44 PM 7/15/2008