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United States boys clothes: 1890s unidentified family Christmas card
U.S. Families: Unidentified Christmas Family (1890s)
Figure 1.--This cabinet card shows a well dressed family with three childrem, two boys and a gurl. The girl has a velvet-trimmed dress. One boy wears a Norfolk suit with an Eton collar. Notice how the Eton collar lies on the collar of his collar-buttoning suit. His brother wears a knee pants suit with very high lapels. The children wear black long stockings. One of the boys holds an early baseball bat. The portrait is undated, but the mother's dress suggests the mid-1890s. That was when baloon shoulder styling was popular.
This cabinet card shows a well dressed family with three children, two boys and a girl. The girl has a velvet-trimmed dress. One boy wears a Norfolk suit with an Eton collar. Notice how the Eton collar lies on the collar of his collar-buttoning suit. His brother wears a knee pants suit with very high lapels. The children wear black long stockings. One of the boys holds an early baseball bat. The portrait is undated, but the mother's dress suggests the mid-1890s. That was when baloon shoulder styling was popular. An interesting aspect of thid cabinet card was that it did not have the photographer's logo at the botton. Rather it said, "With the Season's Greetings". Christmas cards began to appear in the late-19th century, but we have noted very few cabinet cards done as Christmas cards. Of course family photo cChrisdtmas cards became very popular in the 20th century.
A reader writes, "The lady's sleeves are more a thing of the eary-1890s. In mid-90s they were bigger. The little girl is wearing a dress from the 1880s." This suggests to us that the portrait was probanly taken in the very early- 90s.
