Figure 1.--These two English brothers are a oerfectly matched pair, down to the handkerchiefs in their breast poackets. The only real difference is that the older brother has a watch fob. The only other minor difference is that their hair is combed slightly differently. I am not sure if their mother liked to dress them alike or this is their school uniform. I woukd guess the pirtrait was taken about 1885 in Canterbury. Image courtesy of the MD collection. To learn more about these brothers, click on the image.

Eton collars are best remembered as the collar worn with Eton suits, but in fact they were worn with other types of garments as well. While best remembered as being worn with Eton jackets, we have noted many boys, especially middle-class and working class boys, wearing them with other types of suits. Perhaps the most common was the Norfolk suit. We have noted several different ways in which they were worn, including with or without various forms of neckwear. Most boys appear to have worn some kind of neckwear, but we see quite a number without any neckwear at all. Eton collars were usually worn with vests. Many boys wore long trouser suits with Eton collars. Knickers suits were also very common. Kneepants and sghort pants suits with Eton collars were less common. The one exceoption here was prep schools after World War I where short pants school uniforms were often worn with Eton collars, especially in the 1920s. We have noted some English and Scottish boys wearing Eton collars with Highland kilt outfits. Generally they were worn with the black jackets, but not always.

Headwear

Jackets

While best remembered as being worn with Eton jackets, we have noted many boys, especially middle-class and working class boys, wearing them with other types of suits. Perhaps the most common was the Norfolk suit.

Neckwear

We have noted several different ways in which they were worn, including with or without various forms of neckwear. Most boys appear to have worn some kind of neckwear, but we see quite a number without any neckwear at all. We also see quite a wide variety of neckwear. Usually the ties were very sober. In the portrait here the boys wear a tie done in a large knot, but is hard to see because of the waistcoat which begins quite near the collar. In America, younger boysmight wear large floppy bows with Eton collars, but this seems much less common in England. While the Eton collars changed slightly over the years, the neckwear baried much more. Thus the style of neckwear employed can be useful in dating the images.

Shirts

It is not clear to us what kind of shirt-like garment was worn with Eton collars. The Eton collar was a detachable collar. It was seoarate from the shirt and and fastened to it by studs. And as it was unattached to the shirt, it could be much more heavily starched to a stiff cardboard-like consistency. The shirt garment was made without a collar. This would mean that it was a shirtwaist, a shirt without a collar. Unfortunarely because Eton collars were commonly worn with suits, often vested suits, we do not get to see the shirtwaist in the photgraphic record. We might see the cuffs peaking out from the jacket sleeves, but that is about it. You can see that with the boys here (figure 1). We see some younger boys with cut-away jackets where we can see the shirt-like garment worn. We are not sure if the shirt-like garment was the same as worn by the older boys here. Hopefully we will eventually be able to find images that show off just what these garments were like.

Vests

Eton collars were usually worn with vests (waistcoats). Most boys wore theirEton collars over their vests, like these boys here. Some boys, however, have tucked them inside the vest. Notice that the boys here have all their vest buttons buttoned (figure 1).

Trousers

Many boys wore long trouser suits with Eton collars. Knickers suits were also very common. Kneepants and sghort pants suits with Eton collars were less common. The one exceoption here was prep schools after World War I where short pants school uniforms were often worn with Eton collars, especially in the 1920s.

Kilts

We have noted some English and Scottish boys wearing Eton collars with Highland kilt outfits. This was of course more common in Scotland. Generally they were worn with the black jackets, but not always.

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Created: July 4, 2003
Last updated: 12:29 PM 10/20/2017