Figure 1.--The Earl's social set as well as the poor tenants were charmed by yje little boy in the velvet suit and lace collar. The outfit, however, was never dscribed in detail by Mrs. Burnett.

The classic Little Lord Fauntleroy was a kneepants suit. It was made of a black or dark-collored (burgandy, deep blue, forrest green, etc.) velvet. The jacket was small and worn open to show a heavily ruffled blouse with a huge lace collar and matching wrist trim. (Notably this varied from the original Birch drawings, which showed a velvet jacket completely cobering the blousw with only a lace collar and lace cuffs showing.) It was worn with long (usually dark) stockings and knee pants.

Mrs. Burnett did make some references to costuming, but not very many considering the future impact of the Little Lord Fauntleroy style. The original drawings pictured him with long flowing hair to which many American mothers soon added the ringlet curls so associated with the Fauntleroy style. Actually the references to costuming are fairly limited. Not only are there few references, but there is not detailed description of the suit and only two references to the lace coolar. There are, however, quite a number of references to Cedric's long blond curly hair.

Some of the references are as follows:

Curls

Though he was born in so quiet and cheap a little home, it seemed as if there was never a more fortunate baby. In the first place, he was always well, and so he never gave anyone trouble; in the second place he had so sweet a temper and ways so charming that he was a pleasure to everyone; and in the third place he was so beautiful to look at that he was quite a picture. Instead of being a bald -headed baby, he started in life with a quantity of soft, fine, gold coloured hair, which curled up at the ends, and went into loose rings by the time he was six months old; he had big brown eyes and long eye lashes and a darling little face .... [Chapter 1]

He was not much more than a baby , but that thought [conforting deartest on his father's death] was in his mind whenever he climbed upon her knee and kissed her, a put his curly head on her neck, and when brought his toys and picture books to show her .... [Chapter 1]

She [Mary] was proud of his graceful, strong little body and his pretty manners, especially proud of the bright curly hair which waved over his forehead and fell in charming love-locks on his shoulders. She was willing to work early and late to help his mamma to make his small suits and keep them in order. [Chapter 1]

[After being told the story of the dastardly British and the bravery of the American revolutionaries by Mr. Hobbs] Cedric was so excited that his eyes shone and his cheeks wew red and his curls were all rubbed and rumbled into a yellow mop. [Chapter 1] [When he told Mr. Hobbs that he had just learned that he was an aristocrat] Cedric flushed up to the curly hair on his forehead. [Chapter 2]

He was such a handsome, blooming, curly-headed littke fellow, that when he sat down and nursed his knee with his chuby hands, and conversed with much gravity, he was a source of great entertainment to his hearers. [Chapter 4]

A very skight smile touched Mr. Haversham's thin lips [as he described Cedric to the Earl]. There rose up before his mind's eye the picture he had left at Court Lodge--the beautiful, graceful child's body lying upon his tiger-skin-in careless comfort-- the bright, tumbled hair spread on the rug-the bright, rosy boy's face. [Chapter 4]

Figure 2.--Almost all of the Birch drawings show Cedric in the same velvet suit and lace collar. I'm not sure to what extent Mrs. Burnett and Birch discussed the illustrations.

[After helping the Earl] And he rubbed his damp curls rather vigorously with the generous handkerchief. [Chapter 5]

The Earl was still leaning back in his chair. He moved as Mr. Havisham approached and held up his hand in a gesture of warning--it seemed as if he had scarecely intended to make the gesture--as if it was almost involuntary. Dougal was still asleep, and close behind the great dog, sleeping also, with his curly head upon his arm, lay little Lord Fauntleroy. [Chaptet 5]

[Cedric parted from his mother on the Earl's orders was carried to bed, the sevants much taken with the boy, describe the scene] "And as to looks, mem, when he was rung for, James and me go t the library and bring him upstairs, and James lifted him upmin his arms, and with his little innercent face all red and rosy, and his little head on James' shoulders and his hair hanging down , all curly and shinin', a prettier, takuner sight you'd never wish to see. [Chapter 6]

Then it had gratified him [the Earl] to drive to church with Cedric and to see the excitement and interest caused by the arrival. He knew how the people would speak of the beauty of the little lad; of his fine, strong, straight body; of his erect bearing, his handsome face, and his bright hair, and how they would say (as the Earl had heard one woman exclaim to another) that the boy was "every inch a lord." [Chapter 7]

[The Earl relents when Cedric wants to help the poor tenants] "I am a violent, selfish old rascal; I never did a generous thing in my life, and I don't care about Earl's Court or the poor people"--or something which would amount to the same thing. He actually had learned to be fond enough of that small boy with the mop of yellow love-locks, to feel that he himself would prefer to be guilty of an amiable action now and then. And so--though he laughed at himself--after some reflection, he sent for Newick, and had quite a long interview with him on the subject of the Court, and it was decided that the wretched hovels should be pulled down and new houses should be built. [Chapter 10]

There was a movement of the curly head on the yellow satin cushion. A soft, long, sleepy sigh came from the parted lips, and the little boy stirred in his sleep, but not at all restlessly or uneasily. Not at all as if his slumber were disturbed by the fact that he was being proved a small impostor and that he was not Lord Fauntleroy at all and never would be the Earl of Dorincourt. He only turned his rosy face more on its side, as if to enable the old man who stared at it so solemnly to see it better. [Chapter 10]

They made quite a decent uproar, and one or two motherly women looked tenderly at the little fellow where he stood, with his mother on one side and the Earl on the other, and grew quite moist about the eyes, and said to one another:

"God bless him, the pretty little dear!"

Little Lord Fauntleroy was delighted. He stood and smiled, and made bows, and flushed rosy red with pleasure up to the roots of his bright hair.

"Is it because they like me, Dearest?" he said to his mother. "Is it, Dearest? I'm so glad!"

And then the Earl put his hand on the child's shoulder and said to him:

"Fauntleroy, say to them that you thank them for their kindness."

Fauntleroy gave a glance up at him and then at his mother.

"Must I?" he asked just a trifle shyly, and she smiled, and so did Miss Herbert, and they both nodded. And so he made a little step forward, and everybody looked at him--such a beautiful, innocent little fellow he was, too, with his brave, trustful face!--and he spoke as loudly as he could, his childish voice ringing out quite clear and strong.

"I'm ever so much obliged to you!" he said, "and--I hope you'll enjoy my birthday--because I've enjoyed it so much--and--I'm very glad I'm going to be an earl; I didn't think at first I should like it, but now I do--and I love this place so, and I think it is beautiful--and--and--and when I am an earl, I am going to try to be as good as my grandfather."

And amid the shouts and clamor of applause, he stepped back with a little sigh of relief, and put his hand into the Earl's and stood close to him, smiling and leaning against his side.

Kilts

When he was old enough to walk out with his nurse, dragging a small wagon and wearing a short white kilt skirt, and a big white hat set back on his curly yellow hair, he was so handsome and strong and rosy that he attracted everyone's attention, and the nurse would come home and tell his mamma stories of the laddies who had stopped their carriages to look and speak to him .... [Chapter 1]

[Cedric describing his friend Dick] "... I was carrying it [a ball] and it bounced into the middle of the street where the carriages and horses were, as I was so disapponted I began to cry--I was very little little. I had kilts on, and Dick was blackening a man's shoes, and he said 'Hallo!" and he ran in between the horses and caught the ball for me ..." [Chapter 2]

Dresses

"Ristycratic, is it," she [Mary] would say. "Faith and I'd loike to see the choild on Fifth Avey-noo as looks loile him an' shteps out as handsome as himself. An 'ivvery man, woman, and choild lookin' afther him in his bit of black velvet skirt made out of the misthress's ould gownd; an' his little head up an' curly hair flyin' and shinin'. It's like a young lord he looks." [Chapter 1]

"He was the nicest little feller I ever see," said Dick. "An' as to sand--I never seen so much sand to a little feller. I thought a heap o' him, I did,--an' we was friends, too--we was sort o' chums from the fust, that little young un an' me. I grabbed his ball from under a stage fur him, an' he never forgot it; an' he'd come down here, he would, with his mother or his nuss and he'd holler: `Hello, Dick!' at me, as friendly as if he was six feet high, when he warn't knee high to a grasshopper, and was dressed in gal's clo'es. He was a gay little chap, and when you was down on your luck, it did you good to talk to him." [Chapter 11]

Knickerbockers

[Mr. Havinsham the laywer watched Cedric run a race] He really never remembered seeing having seen anything quite like the way in which his lordship's lordly little red legs [referring to Cedric's red stockings] flew up behind his knickerbockers and tore over the ground as he shot out in the race at the signal word. He shut his small hands and st his face against the wind; his bright hair streamed out behind. .... His elated little face was very red, his curls clung to his hot, moist forehead, his hands were in his pockets. [Chapter 2]

He [Mr. Haversham] could not make up his mind as to what an elderly gentleman should say to a little boy who won races, and wore short knickerbockers and red stockings on legs which were not long enough to hang over a big chair when he sat well back in it. [Chapter 2]

Figure 3.--Cedrric lets a poor crippled boy ride while he rides. This of course seems a sugary-sweet scene to our modern eyes, it was not to the Victorians.

Caps and Hats

[Cedric surprised at the people bowing to him] "Dies she know me?" asked Lord Fauntleroy. "I think she must think she knows me." And he took off his black velvet cap to her and smiled. [Chapter 4]

"Here they come!" went from one looker-on to another.

And then the carriage drew up, and Thomas stepped down and opened the door, and a little boy, dressed in black velvet, and with a splendid mop of bright waving hair, jumped out.

Every man, woman, and child looked curiously upon him.

"He's the Captain over again!" said those of the on-lookers who remembered his father. "He's the Captain's self, to the life!"

He stood there in the sunlight looking up at the Earl, as Thomas helped that nobleman out, with the most affectionate interest that could be imagined. The instant he could help, he put out his hand and offered his shoulder as if he had been seven feet high. It was plain enough to every one that however it might be with other people, the Earl of Dorincourt struck no terror into the breast of his grandson.

"Just lean on me," they heard him say. "How glad the people are to see you, and how well they all seem to know you!"

"Take off your cap, Fauntleroy," said the Earl. "They are bowing to you."

"To me!" cried Fauntleroy, whipping off his cap in a moment, baring his bright head to the crowd and turning shining, puzzled eyes on them as he tried to bow to every one at once. [Chapter 7]

When he left them, the workmen used to talk him over among themselves, and laugh at his odd, innocent speeches; but they liked him, and liked to see him stand among them, talking away, with his hands in his pockets, his hat pushed back on his curls, and his small face full of eagerness. "He's a rare un," they used to say. "An' a noice little outspoken chap, too. Not much o' th' bad stock in him." And they would go home and tell their wives about him, and the women would tell each other, and so it came about that almost every one talked of, or knew some story of, little Lord Fauntleroy .... [Chapter 10]

Velvet Suit

[The classic reference is] And then the Earl looked up. What Cedric saw was a large old man with shaggy white hair and eyebrows, and a nose like an eagle's beak between his deep fierce eyes. What the Earl saw was a graceful hildish figure in a black velvet suit, with a lace collar, and with lovelocks waving around the handsome manly little face, wose eyes met his with a look of innocent good-fellowship. If the Castle was like the palace in a fairy story, it must be owned that Lord Fauntleroy was himself rather like a small copy of the fairy prince, though he was not all aware of the fact, and perhaps was rather a sturdy young model of a fairy. [Chapter 4]

Dougal [the huge Irish wolf hound] was not a dog whose habit it was to make acquaintances rashly, and the Earl wondered somewhat to see how quietly the brute sat under the touch of the childish hand. And, just that moment, the big dog gave Lord Fauntleroy one more look of dignified scrutiny, and deliberately laid its huge, lion-like head on the boy's black-velvet knee. [Chapter 4]

[The Earl thought] ... it was not disagreeable to met someone who did not distrust or srrink from him, or seemed to detect the ugly part of his nature; someone who looked at him with clear, unsuspecting eyes--if it was only a little boy in a black velvet suit. [Chapter 4]

Lace Collar

When she reached Dorincourt Castle with Sir Harry, it was late in the afternoon, and she went to her room at once before seeing her brother. Having dressed for dinner, she entered the drawing-room. The Earl was there standing near the fire and looking very tall and imposing; and at his side stood a little boy in black velvet, and a large Vandyke collar of rich lace--a little fellow whose round bright face was so handsome, and who turned upon her such beautiful, candid brown eyes, that she almost uttered an exclamation of pleasure and surprise at the sight. [Chapter 10]

Dressing

[Dressing up in a Fauntleroy velvet suit could be quite complicated. For details see: Dressing. Two maids were assigned to help Cedric dress when he was moved Darincourt Castle.]

Cedric moved on his pillow, and turned over, opening his eyes.

There were two women in the room. Everything was bright and cheerful with gay-flowered chintz. There was a fire on the hearth, and the sunshine was streaming in through the ivy-entwined windows. Both women came toward him, and he saw that one of them was Mrs. Mellon, the housekeeper, and the other a comfortable, middle-aged woman, with a face as kind and good-humored as a face could be.

"Good-morning, my lord," said Mrs. Mellon. "Did you sleep well?"

His lordship rubbed his eyes and smiled.

"Good-morning," he said. "I didn't know I was here."

"You were carried upstairs when you were asleep," said the housekeeper. "This is your bedroom, and this is Dawson, who is to take care of you."

Fauntleroy sat up in bed and held out his hand to Dawson, as he had held it out to the Earl.

"How do you do, ma'am?" he said. "I'm much obliged to you for coming to take care of me."

"You can call her Dawson, my lord," said the housekeeper with a smile. "She is used to being called Dawson."

"MISS Dawson, or MRS. Dawson?" inquired his lordship.

"Just Dawson, my lord," said Dawson herself, beaming all over. "Neither Miss nor Missis, bless your little heart ! Will you get up now, and let Dawson dress you, and then have your breakfast in the nursery?"

"I learned to dress myself many years ago, thank you," answered Fauntleroy. "Dearest taught me. `Dearest' is my mamma. We had only Mary to do all the work,--washing and all,--and so of course it wouldn't do to give her so much trouble. I can take my bath, too, pretty well if you'll just be kind enough to 'zamine the corners after I'm done."

Dawson and the housekeeper exchanged glances.

"Dawson will do anything you ask her to," said Mrs. Mellon.

"That I will, bless him," said Dawson, in her comforting, good-humored voice. "He shall dress himself if he likes, and I'll stand by, ready to help him if he wants me."

"Thank you," responded Lord Fauntleroy; "it's a little hard sometimes about the buttons, you know, and then I have to ask somebody."

He thought Dawson a very kind woman, and before the bath and the dressing were finished they were excellent friends, and he had found out a great deal about her. He had discovered that her husband had been a soldier and had been killed in a real battle, and that her son was a sailor, and was away on a long cruise, and that he had seen pirates and cannibals and Chinese people and Turks, and that he brought home strange shells and pieces of coral which Dawson was ready to show at any moment, some of them being in her trunk. All this was very interesting. He also found out that she had taken care of little children all her life, and that she had just come from a great house in another part of England, where she had been taking care of a beautiful little girl whose name was Lady Gwyneth Vaughn. [Chapter 6]

Figure 4.--This is one of two Birch drawing which pictured Cedric in a sailor suit.

Saior Suit

At first it seemed to Mr. Hobbs that Cedric was not really far away, and would come back again; that some day he would look up from his paper and see the little lad standing in the door-way, in his white suit and red stockings, and with his straw hat on the back of his head, and would hear him say in his cheerful little voice: "Hello, Mr. Hobbs! This is a hot day--isn't it?" [Chapter 11]

Book Text

Perhaps you would like to do your own seach of the book to find references to costuming. Have a go at it. Let me know what you find.

Real Fauntleroy Suits

While Fauntleroy suits are not described in great detail by Mrs. Burnett, there is a substantial amount of information available on the velvet suits worn by a generation of American boys after the publication of Little Lord Fauntleroy.

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Created: March 17, 1999
Last updated: March 17, 1999