Boys' Historical Clothing: HBC Site Focus


Figure 1.--This American boy was from Kansas City, Missouri. Some see fashions like the Fauntleroy suit as cultural odities without any real historical importance. Yet the Fauntleroy suit is a fascinating reflection of the historical period in which they occurred. The Fauntleroy suit was most popular in America during the late 19th century. This was just the time that America was developing into an idustrial giant. Many Americans benefitted and achieved a standard of living which would have been almost unimaginable when they were children. Thus fancy and largely impractical outfits for children were wonderful advertisements of just how far they had come and helped to demonsrate their new status. These outfits also reflect how little children at the tome had to say about how they were dressed and how much time middle and upper class women had on their hands as generally only poor women worked outside the home.

Many readers have come to HBC as a result of hits on internet searches on a wide range of topics. For many the focus of our site is not readily apparent and some readers have understandably inquired as to just what the focus of the HBC website is. HBC has in fact evolved significantly over time. We began as a historical fashion site, but gradually expanded our focus. As we added thousands of pages on historical fashions we began to see that some historical background was needed to fully understand those fashions. We also began to see the fashion pages as a reflection of changing cultural attitudes. Clothing are in fact cultural artifacts of considerable value in understanding any historical period. We see our many fashion pages as small discrete historical documents which can be used in our wider assessment of history. At the same time we began to get queries from the many school children that use our site about not only fashions, but what life was like for children in various historical eras. This brought to mind similar questions raised by students when I was teaching school. In fact, children were obviously present and involved in major historical events. And there role in those events is often neglected. As a result, we have gradually expanded our historical pages. The idea here is to show how children participated in and were affected by historical events. Here there is a strong focus on culture. We have an extensive section on both religion and the fine arts. There is also an expanding section on family life. Thus our site has become a kind of historical assessment of childhood. Fashion was from the start an important part of our site, but HBC is not just a fashion site, although that was and continues to be a principal topic that our sites is investigating.

Fashion

Many readers have come to HBC as a result of hits on internet searches on a wide range of topics. For many the focus of our site is not readily apparent and some readers have understandably inquired as to just what the focus of the HBC website is. HBC has in fact evolved significantly over time. We began as a historical fashion site, but gradually expanded our focus. Fashion was from the start an important part of our site, but HBC is not just a fashion site, although that was and continues to be a principal topic that our sites is investigating. The heart of our fashion site is the HBC section dealing with garments and styles. The various country and chrnology pages all deal largely with fashion, assessing differences among countries and over time.

History

As we added thousands of pages on historical fashions we began to see that some historical background was needed to fully understand those fashions. As reflected in our title, HBC is a historical site. There are of course many ways of approaching the study of history. We see our many fashion pages as small discrete historical documents which can be used in our wider assessment of history. Some may see fashion as largely accidental or meaningless changes. This of course may in part be true. But we believe that many fashion changes reflect larger historical and cultural trends. Why for exanpple did the Fauntleroy suit and sailor suit become so popular in the late 19th century. There were in fact historical and social trends which explain why. Or why would children not want to dress in overalls and jeans in the early 20 century yet in the late 20th century, jeans were very popular and the older and more worn out the better. Here there are historical and sociological trends involved and these fashions changes help us to follow cultural patterns and chnges. Our site would be incomplete if we just discussed fashion without considering the larger historical nd cultural mileu in whiv=ch these fashions developed. Our intention in our many historical pages is to develop information on how children were affected or involved. A good example here is our extensive coverage of the Holocaust. Is is not well understood the degree to which children were involved and even targeted in the Holocaust. Click here and look of the himage of the little Dutch boy and his toys and you begin to understand hiw children were affected by this and other historical trends. Other good examples are slavery and child labor. Many of our historical pages at this time do not include extensive information on children. This is because in constructing these pages we first have to work out the basic historical details. Then we add information about children. Often we have yet gto find information about how children weee involved or affected. This we hope to add as we expand HBC. We are especially interested here in any information that readers can provide.

Childhood

At the same time we began to get queries from the many school children that use our site about not only fashions, but what life was like for children in various historical eras. This brought to mind similar questions raised by students when I was teaching school. The very concept of childhood has changed over time. Fashion is a ggod reflection of how adults look on children. In fact, the first destinctive childhood garments like skeleton suits appreared when Europeans began to see children as different than adults and not just small adults. And of course as children developed more control over how they dressed, fashion began to reflect their attitudes. The role of children in history is often neglected. Children were obviously present and involved in major historical events. Many historical assessments ignore children. Yet children were sometimes important participants. Important or not they were surely present and affected. As a result, we have gradually expanded our historical pages. The idea here is to show how children participated in and were affected by historical events. Thus our site has become a kind of historical assessment of childhood.

Culture

HBC has a strong focus on culture. We also began to see the fashion pages as a reflection of changing cultural attitudes. Clothing are in fact cultural artifacts of considerable value in understanding any historical period. We have an extensive section on both religion and the fine arts. There is also an expanding section on family life. We also have and extensive section on literature and theatrical works. The focus of all this cultureal work is again childhood. There is als an important cultural component in the advertising section. And of course economics is a key component of culture.

Reader Comments

Readers have commented on the focys of the HBC website. Comments kike these have caused us to create tho page to more clearly explain the focus of our site.

American reader

A reader writes, "I do enjoy reading about some history. However, I think some HBC pages are light on a discussion of boys clothing and comparably too heavy on the historical events surrounding the photograph." HBC response: Well there are some pages that do not discuss clothing at all, either because it is unappropriate or because we have not yet got to it. On the occasions where we see it as inappropriate, we often create a separate page reached by clicking on the image where a discussion of the clothing can be found. As an overall percentage of the about 15,000 pages on HBC, there are relatively few which do not discuss the clothing at least to some extent.

Australian reader

Another reader writes, "This HBC page was as usual is interesting. It helps to explain the overall focus of the website and I found it a useful part of the interoduction. The way HBC has evolved is interesting. One of the aspects of HBC I found particularly informative is how you weave many differenbt disciplines, develops, and seemingly unrelatted topics together. The inerelations are fascinating. The paths taken from clothing to history, royalty, families, wars, countries, etc is a thought provoking interelated story. Thus the content is interesting and the links for the most part relevant. The coverage of the World Wars and all that happened therein is to me interesting and very often in line with my thoughts. To continue in a similar manner is the way to go." HBC comment: Yes the interelations among the many topics has surprised me as well. Some of them became apparent only after I began working on a particular topic. And in many cases it has been reader comments that pointed out some of these relationships. When we first began HBC, we created separate sites for different topics such as youth groups, royalty, presidents, ect. But we fond this clunky and soon saw the need to have one single site set up so readers could seemlessly navigate with the HBC complex.

American reader

I'm glad to see this new page. I think its a valuable overview for new HBC readers. I agree with the enlarged scope for HBC. As you have emphasized, HBC's pages have evolved into much more than a recounting of the clothing styles over the last 150 years (and to some extent, even earlier). The social life of the child and his role in the family and at school are part of story.







HBC




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Created: 12:05 PM 8/10/2005
Last updated: 5:03 PM 8/11/2005