Boys' Suits: Matching and Contrasting Garments


Figure 1.--The convention for jackers and suits matching was set in the 9th cebtury and cintunued in th 20th century. This portrait looks to have been taken about 1930. We are not sure about the country, but suspect England, perhaps Germany.

Suits are sets of garments that go go together. Generally this meant a jacket and bottom that matches. Vests and caps also some times matched. The item to a suit, however, did not always match. Suits in the 18th century generally had matching jackets and triusers. Vests might cotrast. With rge appearance of the skeleton suit in the late-18th century, we mostly see matching jackets and pants. This cahnged somewhat in the 19th bcentury, especially bybthe 18290s and we see jackers and pants in contrasting colors. Often the pants were a lighter color, but we also see darker colors as well. With the appearance of the collar-buttoning jackets, we commomly see jackets and pants in contrasting colors. This was also the case of lapel jacket sack suits. We note in the mid-19th century boys very commonly wearing vests and pants that did not match the jacket. This was a little complicated. Both vests and pants often did not match the jacket. But in some cases the vest did match the jacketm but m=nt the pants. We note for example an unidentified American boy about 1850 who had a vest that matches his jacket, but pants that did not. The way early photographic portraits were shots (Dags and Ambros), the trousers were often cut out of most of the image, but often there is enough to detrmine if the pants match or were a contrasting color. A good example or the American Lathrop brothers in 1855. We can just make out that the pants are a darker color. This changed rather drantically in the 1860s. Suddenly for some reason the comventiin of matching jackets and pabts became a well-estblished fashion convention. By the late-19th century, vests and pants usually did match the jacket. This continued tgo be the case into the 20th century. Some varition existed. Blazers were often worn with different colored pants such as grey flannel. We begin to see sports jackets in the 1940s with jackets and pants in dufferent material and colors. Generally this meant a jackert that was more colorful and/or with striking fabric.







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Created: 5:54 AM 2/18/2015
Last updated: 5:54 AM 2/18/2015