** American kilt suits: chronology








American Kilt Suits: Chronology

We are just beginning to build a chronology of the kilt suits worn by American boys. I am not sure when the kilt suit first appeared in America. We do not note them in the 1850s and 60s, although we note a few boys wearing what look like plaid tunics, especially in the 1850s. We do not note kilt suits in the 1860s. At the time dresses seemed more common for younger boys. The kilt suit does not appear to have been commonly worn until the 1870s. We note American boys wearing them very commonly in the 1880s. It was through the 1890s one of the most popular outfits for younger boys. Kilt suits were still worn after the turn of the century in the 1900s, but much less common in the 1910s. The age conventions changed slightly over time. We think the time line was similar to Britain, but may have appeared in America a few years later than Britain.

The 1840s

The whole idea of the kilt as boy's wear was launched by the British royak family (1840s). Until then the kilt was a Scottish grment worn mostky in the Higlands. Queen Victoria had been enamored ith Scotland since reading poems and novels about the country. She and her husband thought it would be charming for the princes to wear kilts. It also made for clever national politics. What the princes wore, however, were Highland kilts. The idea of the kilt suit had not yet been born. We do not note kilt suits in the Daguerreotypes from the 1840s. And unlike Europe, there is a substantial photographic record in America for the 1840s. Unfortunately for these early decades, we do not have catalogs to assist us with dateing the chronological range of kilt suits and other garments. We see no evidence of the kilt or kilt suit in the America during the 1840s. Kilt suits were rare even in Britain, but the princes were weearing kilts and the fashion revolution wad was begining. We begin to see kilts, but kilt suits were anoher matter.


Figure 1.--

The 1850s

We do not notice many kilt suits in the Daguerreotypes and Ambrotypes from the 1850s. We have a fairly large collection of these images, but it is nothing like the number of CDVs and cninedts cards we have achived. Dags ana Anbros were sdimply made in smller numbers, alneit they were made in lrger numbers in America than any other country. We believe that over half the Dags and Ambrios made were made in America. This is one reason the popularity of kilt sduits in Britain is hard to access. There are just do few imafes. And while we have rlativity fewamerican images to wsirk with, we believe we would have noticed it these garments were very common. The fact that Dags abnd Anbros were made inrealtubely small numbers has to be considred. They were expoensiveand the priocess comoplicated. This would change with abumen pricess (CDVs and cabibet cards) if the 1860s, but with the smaller number of images beieve our assessment is less valid than when the much larger numbers of images beegn to appear (1860s). This of course is not to say that kilt suits did not exist in America during the 1850s. We hasve found a few such images. Although we do note a few boys wearing what look like plaid tunics or long shirts, especially in the 1850s. It is not always precisely clear what the boys in these early portraits were wearing. Many are torso portraits with the garment below the waist not clearly shown. We have found very few Higland kilt kilt suit images in America during the 50s, but there are a few showing that at least a few boys were wearing them. It is not entirely clear if it was a Scottish or English influence. The British Royal family began dre ssing the princes in kilts during the 1840s and this had a huge impact on boys' fashions, even in America.


Figure 1.--Here we see a skirted suit. It is a button on dsuir with a skirt rather than pants. This was a button-on blouse suit with out Scottich acoutements.

The 1860s

We have much more information on childrens clothing from the 1860s. This was due to the development of albumen paper and the CDVs well as the larger cabinet card later in the decade. This reduced the cost of portraits as well as made copies possible. Huge numbers of photographic portraits were made in the 1860s, more than ever before. There seem to have been some kilts suits in america during the 1950s, but the photographic recor suggests that there were not very many. The much larger photographic record of the1860s suggests that the popularity was invreasing. Thus we have great detail on clothing in the 60s. We do not note many kilt suits in the 1860s. At the time dresses seemed more common for younger boys. We do see a few boys wearing kilt suits, but the images are undated and we are estimating the dates. We would not state categorically that kilt suits were not common in the 1860s. We think that they were not, but we believe that they were being worn in the late-1860s. Styles were quite varied. We think tha the americans were picking up on a British fashion. There was much more variety in American kilt suits than in any other country. European boys beyond Britain did not commonly wear kilt suits, although we see some in France. They seem to have closely followed Brirish styling with these garments. American mothers on the other hand seem less sure as to just what a kilt was or that concerned about closely following plaid patterns or perhaps not all that sure about the need to do so. They do not, however, seem to have been very common and widely worn. We think the time line for kilt suits in America were similar to Britain, but may have appeared in America a few years later than Britain. The few kilt suits we notice have collar-buttoning jackets that look somewhat like jacketed dresses. A good example is Albert DuBois. The realative rarity of images of kilt suits in the 1860s suggests to us that that they were not yet very common. We have enough portraits from the 1860s so that we have a good overview of popular styles. We also believed that they appeared in the late 1860s. We also notice bold plaids. One photograph shows a ruffled collar.


Figure 1.--This boy was Ellis Edward Shadduch. The portrait is undated, but was taken in the 1870s. The photographer is Louis Heller, Fort Jones, Siskiyou County, California.

The 1870s

The kilt suit does not appear to have been commonly worn until the 1870s, but it was a mzjor boys style by the 70s. The 1870s was one of the deczsdes in which the kilt suit was most popular. We are not precisely sure when the kilt suit appeared. As we have not yet found them being commonly worn in the 1860s, although we see a few examples in the late 1860s. The kilt suit seems to have first become a major style during the 1870s. We do not yet have a detailed time line. We do not know, for example, when the kilt suit first became popular during the 1870s. Our information is not yet detailed enough to tell us just when during the 1870s that they became popular. Nor do we know who introduced the style to the United States. Presumably it was the result of fasion magazines, although travelers may have been a factor. Of course it was the British Rooal family that created the interest in the kilt. Princes Victoria as a girl became fascinated by the poems and stories genrated by the Scottish revivl and romance of the Highlands. But kilt suits are another matter. We suspect that it was some time in the early 1870s as we do note quite a number of boys wearing them during the decade. A good example is Charles Corwing from Minnesota. A muted plaid material was commonly chosen for the suit. The fact that we find them from many relatively small towns and rural areas suggests that the kilt suit appeared fairly early in the decade and had time to spread around the country. The styling of the jackets vsried. They seem to have been primarily lapel sack suit jackets with skirt-kilts. We also see some boys wearing cut-away jackets. And their are also collar-buttoning jackets. This had been a popular suit jacket style for boys in the 1860s. These jackets were done in the same material as the kilt-skirt. We do not note many of the cut-away jackets being worn with kilt suits during the decade. The cut-away jacket with pants was a very popular outfit for boys in the 1860s. WEe also see blouse kilt suits. We note them being worn with both striped and dark long stockings. Period fashion magazines provide a great deal of useful information about fashion trends and conventions. The fashion writers in Harper's Bazaar provided some advice to mothers about boys' dresses and kilts--"Small boy's clothes" (1877). Yhis swas not hust a style in fashionanle northeastern cities. We see the styles being worn throughout the country. We notice a Minnesota boy wearing a kilt suit withn a fancy jacket in 1879.


Figure 2.--This unidentifued boy from York, Pennsylvania wears a kilt suit, we believe in the 1880s, in part because of the mount. He has a large white collar and floppy bow. Notice how the buttons are used as decoration.

The 1880s

The kilt suit continued to be a major fashion for younger boy i the 1880s. We note large numbers of American boys wearing kilt suits throughout the 1880s. We note Frank Bigelow in the early 80s. Note that there was no Scottish elements. This may have been the peak of popularity for these suits. They were one of the most popular outfits for pre-school boys. We see them being worn throughout the country. We note boys from about 3-7 years of age wearing them. They seem to have been as about as popular as dresses for younger boys, although there could have been age differences here. We do not note any change of popularity during the decade. We do note changes in the styling of the suits. Boys in the early 80s wore the same styles as worn in the 1870s with the sack suit jackets generally replacing the cut-away jackets. We see an important developmnt at mid decade. Mrs. Burnett's publication of Little Lord Fauntleroy. It had a mjor impact on boys' fshions, especially in the United States. Until Mrs. Burnetts book, American boy fashions were rather staid. uddenly we see boys weaing gflanboyant outfits. Andthis included the kilt suit. Quite a few kilt suits after 1885 were made as Fauntleroy kilt suits. This was a small black velvet cut-away jacket made with a plaid skirt-kilt. The plaid for these Fauntleroy kilts tended to be brighter than used for the standard kilt suit. We see fewer of the kilt suits with cut-away jackets in thge 1880s with the exception of these Fauntleroy kilt suits. They were worn with the fancy Fauntleroy blouses and often large floppy bows. Most kilt suits even during the Fauntleroy era were not done as Fauntleroy kilt suits. But we see boys wearing regular likt suitswith a variety of Fauntleroy itemssuch asfloppy bows and lace or riggled collars. They were worn with a variety of headwear. We do see some such as Kansas boy. We note kilt suits being worn with striped long sockings in the early 80s, but dark, solid-colored stockings gradually became more common.


Figure 3.--This portrait was taken by Geo. T. Putnam in Middleboro, Massachusetts. The boys collar and floppt bow as well as the mount (serated edges with smooth corners) suggest the early 1890s to us.

The 1890s

The kilt suit continued to be very popular for boys in the the 1890s, especially the early and mid-1890s. We see various styles for these suits. We still see some Fauntlrtoy-styled kilt suits as well as suits with sack suit jackets. These were the same styles we noted in the 1880s. We also see boys with blouse tops rather than jackets. We note a Cadiz, Ohio boy during 1890. A range of materials were used. We more most dark material with muted plaids. The jackets often had embroidered detailing (figure 1). Plaids were very popular for these suits in keeping with the kilt theme. We also notice some light material. As these were suits, the jackets and kilt-skirt normally matched, but this was not always the case. The kilt suit through the 1890s remained one of the most popular outfits for younger American boys. A good example is Walter, a Philadelpia boy in 1892 wearing a Fauntleroy kilt suit. Walter's kilt suit had a matching jacket a kilt-skirt. We notice New York boy Freddiec Deveraux in the same year wearing a Fauntleroy kilt suit with a plaid kilt-skirt. They were very common in the early 90s but began to decline in popularity during mid-decade as the centuries old convention of dressing boys in dresses and other skirted garments began to go out of style. This is difficult to assess in the photographic record as many of the portraits we have found are not dated. We note both standard kilt suits and the Fauntleroy kilt suits with fancy blouses. We also notice boys wearing other large collars such as Eton collars, often with floppy bows. This trend began in the 1880s and cointinued into the 90s. Most of the portraits show the boys wearing dark, probably black, long stockings. We notice Tommy Purcell wearing a sailor pleated skirt outfit in 1892.

The 1900s

The 1900s decade was the last decade we still see kilt suits, but not very many of them. Fauntleroy styling wa also declining, but persisted a bit longer. The photographic record shows that kilt suits were still worn after the turn of the century in the 1900s, but not nearly as commonly and only by increasingly younger boys. We are not sue why such an important fashion disappeared so quickly, but appears to be part of the widespread change from the convention of dressing younger boys in skirted garments. This is a trend that became noticeable in the mod-1890s. It was just more notieable at the turn of the 20th century. It is unclear just what prompted this, but it is a development that was also observeable in Europe. We still see them being offered in catalogs. They were not as common, but they were such a well eastablished fashion that they persisted for a short time. Most of the examples we have found are from the very early-1900s. In many cases we seem families in the lower-middle class clinging to the style, less aware of the latest fashion trends. A good example is the Carol family in rural Texas during 1901. Both boys were wearing kilt suits with Fauntleroy touches. The age conventions changed slightly over time. Only quite young boys for the most part wore kilt suits in the 1900s with a few exceptions.

The 1910s

We no longer see boys wearing kilt suits in the 1910s.








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Created: 5:50 AM 7/6/2008
Last updated: 7:22 PM 9/24/2021