Figure 1.--While this photograph may look like three girls, HBC believes that the boy wearing ringlet curls with his tunic is probably a boy.

American boys who still had long hair were most likely to wear it in ringlets. This was most common in the late 1880s and 1890s, and still not uncommon in the 1900s. Ringlet curls for boys became much less common in the 1910s and rarely seen by the 1920s. This is a very similar time frame for tunic suits. As a result, a substantail number of images of American boys in rinlet curls are seen wearing tunics. This is especially true of turn of the century images. The tunic was an extremely popular garmennt. Most noys wearing tunics did not have ringlets, but the tunic was so widely worn that there are still a sizeable number of images of boys in tunics wearing ringlets.

Image: Figure 1

HBC has disussed the first image on this page. At first glance the photograph could be three girls. HBC believes, however, that the middle child is a boy. There are several reasons for this. None of the reasons are conclusive by themselves, but taken as a totality, HBC believes that the middle child is probably a boy. The reasons for this conclusion are:
Hair styles: The ringlets look like the ringlets commonly worn by boys, sompare to the other two hair styles which were NOT worn by boys.
Belts: Note the belt and lack of belt on the other two. Belts were not unknown for girls, but optional. Boys almost always wore belts, albeit styilized. The girls wear a "A" line dress without a waist or belt and a high waisted dress, both styles associated with girls.
Sleeves: Note the sleeve styles on the two girls. A boy would not commonly wear such sleeve styles. The center child has an acceptably boyish sleeve style.
Party frocks: The children are outfitted in their best party outfits. A girl, especially one with elaborate rinlet curls would have a party frock like the other two. Such a girl's best outfit would not be a tunic with boyish features. A boy on the other hand might at the turn of the century have a tunic as his best party suit.

One curious factor HBC notes about this image is that the children do not appear to be brothers and sisters. Usually groups of children in early photographs like this one were family groups.

Chronology

American boys who still had long hair were most likely to wear it in ringlets. This was most common in the late 1880s and 1890s, and still not uncommon in the 1900s. Of course tunics were not only worn in the late 129th and early 20th century. We note tunics being wirn in the early 19th century. We note few images of boys wearing ringlet curls with tunics in the early 19th century, but we have relatively few images of early 19th century tunics so we are not sure to what extent ringlets were worn. Ringlet curls for boys became much less common in the 1910s and rarely seen by the 1920s. This is a very similar time frame for tunic suits. As a result, a substantail number of images of American boys in rinlet curls are seen wearing tunics. This is especially true of turn of the century images. The tunic was an extremely popular garmennt. Most noys wearing tunics did not have ringlets, but the tunic was so widely worn that there are still a sizeable number of images of boys in tunics wearing ringlets.

Countries

Many of the images we have found of boys in ringlets wearing tunics are American images. We sudpect that this ciombination was most common in America, but limited information on other countries mean that we can not fully assesses country trends at this time.

Created: February 23, 2000
Last updated: 5:34 AM 9/27/2004