The boys collars has varied substantially over time. Boys' collars like men's collars rise and fall with fashion trends. The widths and shapes of collars have fluctuated with neckwear trends. Collars in the mid-19th century tended to be very small. This contrasted with the very large collars worn in the late-19th century. The huge floppy bows worn in the late-19th century rather overwealmed all but the largest collars. In some eras, boys' collars were identical or similar to men's collars, such as 18th Century jabots or moddern buttondowns. In other times they were different, such as sailor collars and Fauntleroy lace collats. Another important collar was the Eton collars worn in the late 19th and early 20th century. These were detachable collars. After World war I boys normally wore shirts with attached collars.

The 18th Century

Boys at the beginning of the 18th Century wore the same lacey jabot that theie fathers wore. Actual specialized children's clothes only began to appear in the late 19th Century. One of these fashions was an open ruffled collar. Adults wore ruffled collars, but not open ruffled collars like boys, especially open collars.

Figure 1.--Many classic boys collars were worn in the mid-19th Century, but they were generally much smaller than those worn later in the century. These boys wear an Eton and a ruffled collar. These differences in collars, notice the outfits are identical, were commonly used to indicate age differences.

The 19th Century

We notice quite a range of different collar styles in the 19th century. Our information on the early 19th century is limited, but we know quite a bit about the mid- and late-19th century. Some boys' collars were so small that they could barely be seen. We see some of the basic collar styles at mid-century, but they tend to be very small. Others were normous. We also notice very plain collars as well as extremely fancy ones with lace and ruffles. We note open-neck and collar-buttoning styles. There were collars on bloses and shirts as well as detachable collars. The large, fancy collars were mostly worn by younger boys and were often used in age grading.

The 20th Century

Early 20th Century (1900-20)

Lace collars became less prevalent after the turn of the century, but ruffled collars became more common. Wide white collars were worn with Buster Brown suits. The Peter Pan collar became popular for young boys while older ones continued wearing Eton collars until after Worldwar I the 1920s when they were increasingly repalaced by soft collars.

Mid-20th Century (1920-70)

No major developments occured with boys' collars during the mid-20th Century. Eton collars rapidly declined in popularity, but did not wntirely disappear until the 1950s. And even a juvenile version was worn by younger boys with Eton suits. Younger boys might also wear Peter Pan collars. The preppy look became wide spread in the 1950s and button-down collars became popular.

Late 20th Century (1970-200)

No major developments ocuurred in the late 20th Century. Peter Pan collars became less common for little boys. Buttons downs continued to be popular. Very large pointed collars were briefly popular in the 1970s. Button-down collars were popular, but no longer just a preppu styl.

The 21st Century

Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web chronological pages:
[The 16th Century] [Early 1800s] [The 1870s] [The 1880s] [The 1890s]
[The 1900s] [The 1910s] [The 1920s] [The 1930s] [The 1940s] [The 1950s] [The 1960s] [The 1970s] [The 1980s]

Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web style pages:
[Dresses] [Smocks] [Bows] [Bodice kilts] [Kilts] [Sailor suits]
[Eton suits] [Blouses] [Ring bearer/page costumes] [Fauntleroy suits]

Created: 1:44 AM 1/4/2007
Last updated: 12:02 AM 11/23/2007