Figure 1.--The Spanish master Goya painted this young Spanish nobel boy in the late 18th Century. Note the bright red velvet.

Velvet is generally considered a luxurious fabric made. True velvet is quite expensive and made from silk. The image of a Fauntleroy suit is generally associated with velvet for boys wear, but velvet suits were worn well before the late 19th Century. Velvet is still considered a luxurious fabric, but now commonly made of synthetic fibers.

Fabric

Velvet is one of the most familiar of what are known as pile fabrics. It is produced by adding to the usual warp and weft threads of plain weaving an additional row of warp yarns which are woven into the ground of the cloth, and passed over wires on the surface. In the case of a loop pile the wires are simply drawn out, but for velvet or other cut pile, a knife is first passed along a grove on the top of each wire to cut the pile before the wire is withdrawn. The resulting fabric has a thick, soft pile formed by loops of the warp thread, either cut at the end or left uncut. Velvet was originally a fabric made from silk and real velvet is still made entirely of silk. Less expensive velvets are often made on a silk face with a cotton basis. This velvet-like material has the appearance of velvet with a cotton backing. Modern imitation velvets are often made from synthetic fibers (acetate, nylon, rayon, and others). A less expensive fabric is made from cotton and variously referred to as velveteen or courderoy.

Figure 2.--Velvet is often associated with the fancy Fauntleroy party suits worn by boys in the late 19th Century.

Colors

Velvet can be made in a wide variety of colors. Luxurious boys' suits in the late 19th Century were made in a wide range of colors, including bright red. A famous painting by Goya shows a Spanish nobel boys in a bright red skeleton suit. Boys suits gradually became less flamboyant. The velvet Fautleroy suits made in the late 19th Centurty were mostly black or dark shades of brown, blue, burgandy and green.

Chronology

The first velvet was apparently made in China. This would seem likely as there is a silk component. I am unsure just when. The term velvet was first used by Europeans in the 13th Century. It was used to sew fine garments for wealthy individuals. At the time there were no specialized children's clothes. Boys wore scaled down versions of their father's clothes, or if they had not yet been breeched, their mother's clothes. It was not until the late 17th Century that specialized garments for childen became popular and such suits were first made for boys.

Styles

The first specilized boys' clothing made from velvet was the skeleton suit. The most commonly associated style associated with velvet are the fancy LittLe Lord Fauntleroy party suits made primarily for small boys. Modern boys have worn fancy suits, manybone piece suits with lace and velvet trim. Almost all were short pants outfits, some stylef like rompers. Slightly older boys might wear velvet Eton suits for formal occasuions and holidays. Some boys' choirs had velvet performance costumes. They were not generally popular with the boys and most choirs now have less fancy costumes.

Figure 3.--Some boys' choirs, like this Bulgarian choir, had fancy velvet suits for performances.

Garments

A range of different garments have been made from velvet. While many garments have velvet trim, a smaller range of garments are made entirely or largely in velvet. Some of the best known are skeleton and Fauntkleroy suits. We have also notice dress rompers in velvet. And junior Eton suits are sometimes done in velvet.

Dresses

Younger boys might wear velvet dresses, just like their sisters. These of course would be the best dresses, often for party wear. In the late 19th Century, younger boys might wear Fauntleroy dresses, velvet dresses with lace and ruffle trim. Until the late 19th Century there was little difference between the dresses worn by boys and girls. Destinctive, plainer styles appeared fpor nboys in the late 19th Century, but the Fauntleroy craze was so popular that some mothers preferred the fancier dresses forvtheir boys.

Skeleton suits

Particularly expensive skeleton suits were made of velvet. Both the jacket and pants were made of velvet, both one and two piece styles

Fauntleroy suits

Velvet of various colors, usually dark, was commonly used in the late 19th Century to produce better boys' party suits, especially Little Lord Fautntleoy suits. Both the jacket and kneepants were made from velvet.

Modern suits

In the 20th Century boys dress suits are sometimes made of velvet, especially suits for small boys. It is particularly popular for boys suits around the Christmas holiday season. Most commonly these were short pants suits. Both the jacket and shorts might be velvet, but in some cases just the jacket.

Figure 4.--Little mights might wear fancu one-piece velvet suits, often trimmed with lace and ruffles.

Trim

Black velvet trim was commonly used for trim on the lapels of better coats for small children. This did not originate as a child's fashion. In fact men's Chesterton jackets still are made with the velvet-trim collars. The fashion dates back to the French Revolution (1789-99) when gentlemen in other countries began adopting the black velvet collars to show sympathy with the executed bourgeoise. It soon became an upper-class fashion which is still seen today. Boys in the early 20th fashion might wear coats with the black velvet trim. This was also an esentially upper-class fashion and was generally only used on expensive coats for both younger boys and girls. We note other garments with velvet trim. An exanple is a Pennsylvania boy wearing a kilt suit. The jacket has velet trim on both the lapels and the sleeve wrist cuffs.

Sources

Fabrizio de Marinis. ed., Velvet: History Techniques Fashions, essays by Aurora Fiorentini Capitani, Roberta Orsi Landini, Luisella Pennati, Alfredo Redaelli, Stefania Ricci. ISBN:0-9627985-1-7, Price: $35.00. Originally published by Idea Books. Now available from Riverside Book Company, Inc. 250 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10107

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Created: May 5, 1999
Last updated: 7:31 PM 1/27/2008