Figure 1.-- We note a cabinet portrait of the most charming little fella. He has a fancy Fauntleroy blouse which he is wearing with overalls. This was taken by H. R. Locke & Co. out of Deadwood. He is the same photographer who took the famous photo of Calamity Jane and who took photos of the Custer Battlefield in the mid-1890s. |
Overalls are seen as working garments. They were at first made for men such as mineers and factory workers. We do see a few images of boys wearing overalls with fancy Faunrleroy blouses, probably in the 1890s. One image comes from Deadwood, South Dakota--a storied location from the Old West. We are not at all sure what is happening here. Did a mother think this was cute, combining the two divergent styles. Or were the overalls still a relativly new style so monthers did not know the accepted conventions. Perhaps the family was poor and the boy did have proper pants, although the shoes one boy is wearing suggest this is not the case. These images seem to come from the West, so we could be talikng about mothers without refined fashion tastes. Jeans (overalls without the bif-front) became the trousers of choice for American boys by the 1950s. Another instance of fashionable wear comes in the 1970s when bib-front overalls became popular with teenagers. Thus overalls whichteenagers wanted no part of for decades became the heoght of fashion.
Overalls are seen as working garments. They were at first made for men such as mineers and factory workers.
We do see a few images of boys wearing overalls with fancy Faunrleroy blouses, probably in the 1890s. One image comes from Deadwood, South Dakota--a storied location from the Old West.
We note a cabinet portrait of the most charming little fella. He has a fancy Fauntleroy blouse which he is wearing with overalls. This was taken by H. R. Locke & Co. out of Deadwood. He is the same photographer who took the famous photo of Calamity Jane and who took photos of the Custer Battlefield in the mid-1890s. We are not at all sure what is happening here. Did a mother think this was cute, combining the two divergent styles. Or were the overalls still a relativly new style so monthers did not know the accepted conventions. Perhaps the family was poor and the boy did have proper pants, although the shoes one boy is wearing suggest this is not the case. These images seem to come from the West, so we could be talikng about mothers without refined fashion tastes.
Jeans (overalls without the bif-front) became the trousers of choice for American boys by the 1950s. Afer World War II, jeans became very popular for cildren. These were not the bib0front overalls that rural biys wore to school, but the jeans boys saw their cowboy stars in the novies wearing. Another factor was that during the Wotld War II many men wore jeans for fatigue duty and saw them as serviceable pants. First boys began wearing them in the 1940s, but girls accepted them as well. hey were the casual pants of choice for children, especially boys. They were quickly accepted at elementary (primary) schools, but some secondary schools attemoted to ban them. And by the 1960s they were also being widely worn in Europe, at first by teenagers.
Another instance of fashionable wear comes in the 170s when overalls became popular with teenagers. Thus overalls whichteenagers wanted no part of for decades became the heoght of fashion for both boys and girls. Of course this was not dress wear, but it was popular casual wear.
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