The transition from elegant velvet Little Lord Fauntleroy suits, kilts, sailor suits, and dressy short pants to casual sweat shirts and blue jeans or baggy trousers for boys is an interesting study in social history. The mod boy of today who wears trendy, comfortable fashions he usually helps select would hardly recognize his counterpart of 100 years ago. In this earlier era, he might have found himself outfitted in a delicate lace collar and fancy velvet kneepants, sailor suits, or kilts. Even older boys in more mature suits would usually wear an Eton collar, large bows, kneepants, and long stockings. Parents at the time dressed formally and insisted that their children also dress smartly to reflect well on the family and to demonstrate their often hard-won social status. Gradually styles changed in the mid 20th Century to more realistic soft collars, short pants, and knickers before the modern incarnation of sneakers, casual baggy jeans, logo "T" shirts and sweatshirts.




Boys clothes have been images from a wide range of material: elegant brocades, lustrous velvets, silks, taffetas, satins, printed, striped and flowered cottons, and laces are among the fancy stuffs of which these clothes were made. These luxurious materials supplemented the more common cotton, linen, and wool fabrics used for everyday wear. This web site surveys the styles worn for both every day and Sunday-best, christening, school and party suits, including the coats, caps and shoes. This web site should charm anyone susceptible to the enchantment and beauty of childhood and prove, as well, a storehouse of ideas and inspiration for those concerned with fashion and design.

The fashions discussed and illustrated in this site are fascinating windows to past eras. Fashions are constantly changing, although at a variable rate. Fashions reflect social attitudes, and are particularably useful because they are an observable phenomenon while the underlying social attitudes are not as readily observeable. Fashion reflects the modes and manners of the times in which they were made and worn. A careful assessment of those clothes can provide much additional information, including details on family life, evolving concepts of childhood, differing attitudes toward boys and girls, the status of children, and many other topics of social interest. The clothes illustrated in this web site should delight the eye and more importantly touch the heart. The more modern 20th Century fashions may even help you recall some associations with your childhood--hopefully bringing back many happy memories.

Figure 1.--Mothers in the late 19th century dressed their boys in Little Lord Fauntleroy suits, fancy velvet suits with lace collars. Often the boys had curls or long hair and to balance such fancy outfits they would have their picture taken with decidedly boyish artifacts such as a toy cannon, or in this case an early tricycle.

Parents, especially mothers, used to choose their sons' clothing and until they were older teenagers, the boys had little say in the matter of fashion. Actually boys until recently may have sneered at the very concept of boys' fashions as much as they objected to the items selected for them. Children, especially well off children, were often dressed in fancy, formal clothes--even for play. The modern child would find clothing common a century ago highly restrictive and uncomfortable. It would certainly inhibit an active child who wanted to enjoy the playground in the contemporary scene. The modern child, even very young children, have a great deal of say in how they dress, often demanding expensive designer clothing. Today children are major arbiters of fashion and even very young boys have considerable influence as to what clothes are purchased for them. Boys no longer sneer at fashion the way they once did. Many boys are now as concerned with fashion as the girls. They also have considerable disposable income, either through allowances or for teenagers, part time jobs. The fashion industry understands this very well and eagerly seek to supply what they than the modern boy desires. Informal styles are now in vogue with children rarely dressing up and, in many cases, only under considerable duress.

Our web page takes a look at the development of boys clothes over the past 500 years, from 1500 to date. We have some older material material, but the prinmary focus is the modern era. First and foremost we describe actual fashions and styles. In some ways boys' clothes have made a full circle from clothes just like their fathers with no consideration to childhood to special juvenile styles after the late 1790s back to dressing children in many adult styles since the 1960s. But then again many adults have taken to wearing many casual styles once considered juvenile attire.

Our web site is not just a fashion site. We also seek to connect the changing fashion trends with the larger societal changes over the years which they often reflect. We also attempt to capture what the parents (mostly mothers) and the boys themselves thought about the fashions of the day. There frequently was some disparity between what mothers and boys have wanted. Trendy fashions were not always popular with boys when the trends were mostly set by their doting mothers. Only in the modern era have boys generally gotten their way and set their own distinctive fashion trends.

This web page is divided into several major sections. Most are still under construction. In fact, our site is likely to stay in a continual stage of construction as visitors contribute there own personal experiences and expertise. We invite you to provide your own historical insights as you visit the various pages--even if it is only a sentence or two. We also encourage you to peruse all the available sections. Please let us know if you have any comments or additional information to add. Perhaps you are knowledgeable about a specific style or period. Surely you know something about current fashions. Maybe you have read a biography with interesting details about how famous person was dressed. Or perhaps you recall a movie or television show accurately depicting period dress. We would be especially interested in any memories you might have about your boyhood clothes and experiences concerning those clothes. Any of this would make an interesting addition to our web site.

Welcome to our Website. There is currently about 10,000 pages in the HBC complex with over 13,000 black and white and color images. Many have never before been published. We have endeavored to illustrate the historical text with actual contemporary historical images. In many cases historical information is lacking and the images themselves have been utilized to assess fashion trends. We invite our readers to comment on these images and contribute whatever insights you may be able to offer. Such comments even very brief ones have made a substantial contribution to our site.