Figure 1.--This American boy wears a dark tunic suit ith detinctive styling. Note the stylish belt buckle. He wears an Eton collar and large floppy bow with his tunic. HBC is unsure how to date this photograph, probably about 1895.

Some tunic suits are hard to classify in one of the major categories. In some cases it is because the images are not clear enough. Other images are clear but just not styled like one of the major categories. Some of these are fancy tunics clearly styled for boys' best part suit. Many of these suits are styled rather like Buster Brown suits, but the tunic was not nearly as plain.

Convention

These other styles were almost always meant for dress wear. They were usually a boys's best party outfit. A decade earlier these boys would have probably worn dresses, kilts, or Fauntleroy suits.

Styling

Most tunic suits had very simple styling. These other tunics might have much fancier styling. Stripes might be employed or the sleeves done in various ways. The belt might be styled with trem or a fancy belt buckle added.

Collar

These other suits usually had large white collars, eith styles like Peter Pan collars or Eton collars.

Bows

These tunics were usually worn with large floppy bows.

Hair

Most boys at the turn of the century wiore short hair. Long hairs and curls for boys, however, was stull considered ashionable--especially among well to do families. The great majority of boys who wore tunics wore short hair cuts, except for the Buster Brown tunics for which bangs were popular. Enough images og boys in long hair and curls exist to demonstrate that the longer styles were still popular with many mothers. HBC believes that long hair styles may have been more popular with these fancier sdtyled tunics than with other types.