Figure 1.--This French post card shows a boy with ringlet curls ("anglaises"), dine a bit short and hang above the collar. The card was postally used in 1920, but may have been printed a little earlier. French companies peinted thoiusands of these cards with children in fancy clothes. This card, however, is unusualin that the boiys in these cards rarely had ringlet curls.

French mothers appear to have liked the fashion of long hair for their sons. Most of the images we note are long uncurled hair. We note only a few boys with ringlets. Here an exanple is Maurice Terrillon in 1894. We have seen, however, relatively few images of French boys with ringlet curls. While we still have realtively few 19th century French portraits in our archive, this does in fact appear to be the case. French mothers appear, however, to have been less apt to curl boys' hair. Boys' fashions in the 19th century often crossed international borders, although not always unchanged. Ringlet curls in France were seen as an English style. The French in fact referred to it as "Cheveux avec des anglaises" (meaning English-styled hair). It is not yet clear to HBC why French and English hair styles differred so substantially in this regard. French mothers often chose rather fancy clothing styles for their children. We do not know why ringlet curls was never as popular a style for boys in France as it was in England and America. We were somewhat surprised to find that the ringlet fashion was not very popular in France. We had thought that because mothers liked often fancy styles that they would also prefer fancy hair styles. Hopefully some of our French readers will provide us some insights as to the difference in Frnch hair styles. French mothers did often let their sons' hair grow uncurled to shoulder length, but used hair bows to control it. We also note the development of the fancy choupette hair style in the 20th century. We notice French boys wearing ringlet curls as late as the mid-20century. An example is a French Algerian boy in 1949.

Popularity

French mothers appear to have liked the fashion of long hair for their sons. Some of the best known examples are the many images of the Ma href="/art/co-franren.html">Renoir boys left by the great impressonist painter. French mothers often chose rather fancy clothing styles for their children. We do not know why ringlet curls was never as popular a style for boys in France as it was in England and America. We were somewhat surprised to find that the ringlet fashion was not very popular in France. We had thought that because mothers liked often fancy styles that they would also prefer fancy hair styles. Hopefully some of our French readers will provide us some insights as to the difference in Frnch hair styles.

Styling

Most of the images we note are long uncurled hair or loosely curled hair. We note fewer boys with the tightly curled ringlets that were common in America. Boys' fashions in the 19th century often crossed international borders, although not always unchanged. Ringlet curls in France were seen as an English style. The French in fact referred to it as "Cheveux avec des anglaises" (meaning English-styled hair). It is not yet clear to HBC why French and English hair styles differred so substantially in this regard.

Chronology

Our French 19th century archieve is still limited. Thus we can not yet make a detailed chronological assessment. We know nothing about the early-19th century at this time and very little about the mid-19th century. Interestingly while the Daguerreotype was invented in France (1839), there are far fewer French Dags than American Dags, limiting our assessment of fashion trends in the mid-19th century. We have seen, however, relatively few images of French boys with ringlet curls. While we still have realtively few 19th century French portraits in our archive, this does in fact appear to be the case. French mothers appear, however, to have been less apt to curl boys' hair. We do have some information on the late-19th century. We note Maurice Terrillon in 1894. We notice French boys wearing ringlet curls as late as the mid-20century. An example is a French Algerian boy in 1949.

Long Hair

French mothers did often let their sons' hair grow uncurled to shoulder length, but used hair bows to control it. We also note the development of the fancy choupette hair style in the 20th century.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Created: May 30, 2002
Last edited: 5:41 PM 5/27/2010