Figure 1.---Younger boys tended to have solid collored suits without patterns. This CDV portrait shows the son of Abe Bryant. The studio was Gates Bros. (negative 254) in Watkins, New York. We jnow te portrait was taken during 1864-66 because of the tax stamp on the back. The boys jacket and pants do not match, but they are solid colored fabric.

We note American boys wearing suits with a wide variety of patterns Patterns have varied in popularity over time. During somne periods, boys have primarily worn suits with flat weaves and no patterns. At other times patterns have been very popular. This included at times very bold patterns. We have very little information on the early 19th century. The primary source of information on patterns is paintings and illystrations. These are very valuable for styling and color, but not for fabric patterns. This is because painting or drawing a pattern is very time consumong and tedious. Thus the artists tended to paint solid-colored fabric. This changes at mid-century afer the invention of photography. Not only do we begin to get far more images, but an accurate depiction of the bolder patterns. More muted patterns required a close-up photograph. At mid-century we tend to see primarily flat-weave suits for younger boys, albeit we see many suits with extensive emroidery and apliqu�. Suits with different colored jacker and pabts were very common in the 1840s and 50s. Curiouly we some boldly patterned pants. Older boys wore both flat-weave and patterened fabrics. We note some suits with very bold patterns in the late-19th century. There seems no difference in formality between the bold and more muted pattrns. There were certain conventions. Little Lord Fauntleroy suits were almost done with material that did not have a pattern, although some had emroidert in the same color as the jacket. It is not always clear on what basis the patterns were chosen. We do not note many bold patterns in suits during the 1860s-80s and our archive is substantial. At the end of the century we note the increasing popularity of boldly patterned suits. We note portraits of brothers, we think in the early-1890s, showing one boy with a boldly patterened suit and his brother with a muted pattern (figure 1).

The 1800s

We have very little information on the early 19th century. The primary source of information on patterns is paintings and illystrations. These are very valuable for styling and color, but not for fabric patterns. This is because painting or drawing a pattern is very time consumong and tedious. Thus the artists tended to paint solid-colored fabric. As far as we can tell, however, bold patterns were not common.

The 1840s

This changes at mid-century afer the invention of photography. Not only do we begin to get far more images, but an reliable, accurate depiction of the bolder patterns. More muted patterns required a close-up photograph. At mid-century we tend to see primarily flat-weave suits for younger boys, albeit we see many suits with extensive emroidery and apliqu�. Suits with different colored jacker and pabts were very common in the 1840s and 50s. Curiouly we some boldly patterned pants. Older boys wore both flat-weave and patterened fabrics.

The 1860s

With the 1860s the CDV appeared and there is an exponetial increase in the number of pprtraiits. We note some suits with very bold patterns in the late-19th century. There seems no difference in formality between the bold and more muted pattrns. There were certain conventions. Suits with matching jackets and pants become standard although we still see some boys with contrting jackets and pants. We do not note many bold patterns in suits during the 1860s-80s and our archive is substantial. We no longer see pants done in bold patterns as we have seen in the 1840s-50s.

The 1870s

We do not yet have a lot of information on bold pattern suits during the 1870s, although admittedly this was not something we have been looking for until recently. The increasing popularity of cabinet cards with a larger image provide us more detail which help to pick up patterns. As best as we can tell, bold patterns were much less common than at mid-century. This was a trend that was pronounced in the 1860s and we contuinue to see it in the 1870s, but we do see quite a number of patterned suits, some of them with bold patterns. We are not yet sure about age and suit type differences.

The 1880s

We continue to see suits mostly with flat fabric in the 1880s. Little Lord Fauntleroy suits were almost done with material that did not have a pattern, although some had emroidery in the same color as the jacket. Kilt suits simetimes had fabrics, but except for plaid not bold patterns. Sailor suits of course had flat weave fabric. We believe that muted patterns were fairly common, but these do not show up very well in photographs. Bold patterns may have began to appear in the late-80s, but we have not yet found dated examples.

The 1890s

At the end of the century we note the increasing popularity of boldly patterned suits. The image on the previous page is a good example. It shows brothers, we think in the early-1890s, showing one boy with a boldly patterened suit and his brother with a muted pattern. We think thee may be social class connotations. It is not always clear on what basis the patterns were chosen. As far as we can tell there does not seem to be any difference in formality. Age appears to be a factor. The bold patterns seem more common for boys than adult men. We are not yet sure about teenagers. Probably patterns were more common than apparent in the photographic record because muted patterns do not register in the images. Flat and muted patterns seem the most common, but we see quite a number of boys wearing boldly patterned suits. Unfortunately the colors involved are lost in the black and white photography. Some pattern including color informatgion is available in period catalogs which included details okn a multiplicity of suit offerings.

Created: 4:13 AM 1/29/2009
Last updated: 8:06 AM 7/16/2020