Figure 1.--We know very little about this American boy. All we know for sure is that the CDV portrait was taken in Wellsville, Ohio. It is undated, but we would guess the portrait was taken in the late 1860s or early 70s. It's a bit difficult to tell precisely what this boy is wearing, but it looks like a tunic suit to us. Note the bloomer knickers will frills. This is not an outfit we see very commonly at the time. The boy is holding a pair of ice skates. I'm not sure if he went skating in this outfit. I have no idea what kind of headwear he is wearing. Could it be a party hat? Perhaps the ice skates are a birthday party.

Tunics were normally worn as a kind of suit. Both the tunics and the style and types of pants have changed over time. Thus in addition to the tunic itself there was some kind of pants worn with the tunic. Different terma were used for these pants. Tunics were mostly worn with knickers, long pants, or to a lesser extent kneepants. A related style, the Russian blouse suit was occasionally worn with long pants--mostly in the long pants variant. We notice tunics in the earlky 19th century being worn with both pants or panytalettes. By the mid-19th century we notice tunics being worn with knickers, commonly above-the-knee bloomer knickers. When tunics became popular again at the turn-of-the-20th century, they were commonly worn with above-the-knee bloomer knickers. Less common were knee pants. We are not sure at this time precisely how the different garments compared to those worn in Europe.

Basic Garments

Tunics were normally worn as a kind of suit. The two principal garments were the tunic itself and the matching pants--often bloomer knickers. We also note some tunic suits that had matching headwear. Boys mostly wore a variety of headwear that did not match. The excepion was sailor-styled tunics. These basic garments, however, were done in many different styles. The major garment in addition to the tunic itself were the matching plants thsat wnt with them. We have noted knee pants, but bloomer knickers were more common.

Accompanying Garments

Chronology

Both the tunics and the style and types of pants have changed over time. We have only limited information on tunics in the early- and mid-19th century. Our information becomes more complete after the development of photography.

Destinctive Styles

We are not sure at this time precisely how the different garments compared to those worn in Europe.

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Created: 10:26 PM 1/6/2005
Last edited: 10:20 PM 5/28/2008