Background

Figure 1.--Younger boys in the late 19th Century often wore there first adult-looking suit with lace or ruffled collars and large bows. This American boy, Robbie Madison was photographed in 1895.

After a boy emerged from Fauntleroy and sailor suits, he received his first more adult-looking suit. Most boys still wore kneepants with their first suit. These suit jackets worn with keepants during the late-19th Century varied. Styles look much like modern styles. The different styles included Norfolk, single breasted, double breasted, and others.

Often a younger boy bought a suit jacket for the first time, might continue wearing a Fautleroy-style lace or ruffled collars with his new suit. This was generally for boys up to about 8 years of age, but boys of up to 10 or 11 years might continue to wear the fancy collars. Beginning at about 8 years a boy might begin to wear Eton collars. This was particularly common in England where boys often began preparatory boarding school at about age 8. Boys showing up at school with a frilly ruffled collar rather than an Etion collar would have been teased by the other boys. At the time it was the wealthy who set styles, thus this same pattern was soon picked up on by those of more modest income who could not afford expensive private schools. This sharp cut off at age 8 was not nearly as established in American and continental European countries.