Figure 1.--The A. Schuman catalog in 1914 offered these button-on outfits for boys from 3-8 years. The prive was $6. |
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HBC does not yet have a complete chronology of button-on styling. We have noted button-on shirt waists in the 1890s, but am not sure when it first appeared. We note button-on styles for younger boys in the 1910s with large white buttons as a prominent styling device. They were made in many different styles. Sailor suits were popular, but there were many other styles such as the Oliver Twist suit. Button-on styles were popular for boys up to about 10 years of age as playwear and school clothes. Shorts suits with coordinated shirts and shorts were especially popular. In the late 20th century, button-on clothes were mostly dressy outfits for younger boys. This styling has continued to be used in the early 21st century.
Skeletin suits were very popular for boys in the early 19th century. The skeleton-suit employed button on styling.
We notice boys in Daguerreotype portraits wearing button-on pants. We are not yet able to destinguish between 1840s and 50 s dags, but clear button-on pants were being worn in the 1850s. We have relatively few images from the 1850s, but this probably represents the relative small number of images rather than the popularity of the style. A good exanple is an unidentified American boy about 1850.
Button-on styling was very common for school-age boys in the 1860s to about age 8-10 years, althoough that is just an estimate at this time. We note button-on pants being worn in the mid-19 century with blouses, cut-away jackets. and other suit styles. Here the development of negative based photographic formatc (CDVs and cabinent cards) and the resulting fall in prices resulted in the explosive growth of the industry, leaving us with large numbers of images. Some of these outfits were obsiously button on outfits because you can see the buttons. Quite a few examples are archived in HBC. A good example is the two-piece outfit worn by two Detroit brothers, we think in the late-1860s. Notice the waist-band covering or flap that hides the buttons. Some outfits are less obvious because you can not see the buttons. There seem to be two reasons for this. One was boys fore a kind of waist flap or cumberbinf-type harment which covered the buttons. The other reason was that the buttons did not go through to the outside of the waistline.
Button-on styling seems to have declined in the 1870s, but we still see some examples. One example here is an American boy, Elmer Dayton in 1870.
No information yet.
HBC have noted button-on shirt waists in the 1890s, but am not sure when it first appeared. The shirt waists had detachable collars and buttoned waistbands for holding up both trousers and stockings. They were for boys 5-12 years of age. A HBC reader comments on the 1890s, My wife's uncle, now deceased, was born in 1889, and in telling us about those times, which he called the "not-so-gay nineties", he once wrote: "At that time boys between the ages of 4 and 10-12 years wore knee pants and long black stockings held up by fasteners to a shirtwaist much as women's stockings are held up by a girdle. The shirtwaist had buttons onto which buttonholes around the top of the knee pants could be buttoned. Younger boys wore knee-length skirts that were buttoned to a band around the bottom of the blouse." An 1892 photo shows two boys in buttoned-on knee pants in New York City. You can
tell that the pants had side openings.
We note button-on styles for younger boys in the 1910s with large white buttons as a prominent styling device. Button-on styles were popular for boys up to about 10 years of age as playwear and school clothes. Sailor styles were popular, but there were many other styles. Some were called Oliver Twist suits. The A. Schuman catalog in 1914 offered these button-on outfits for boys from 3-8 years. The price was $6.
The sailor suit continued to be popular for button-on outfits for younger boys. One 1923 photograph shows an American boy about 3-4 years old wearing a button-on sailor suit.
HBC notes that sets of shirts and pants styled rather like regular garments appeared in the 1930s. Often they had self-belts. They were made with both long and short pants. Button-on sets were more commonly shorts sets, but HBC has noted longs as well. Knicker were less common. They were often made for play, byt also worn to school. They were comonly called wash suits because they were easly laundered. All the major mail order companies had a selections of these outfits.
Button-on shorts sets were also common in the 1940s.
We notice far fewer button-on outfits in the 1950s, especually the second half of the decade.
In the late 20th century, button-on clothes were mostly dressy outfits for younger boys.
This styling has continued to be used in the early 21st cenbtury.
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