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One of the characteristic element of the classic Fauntleroy suit was a large fancy white collar. This was a very impotant part of the Fauntleroy look. The classic Fauntleroy suit was velvet and often quite small to best show off a Fauntleroy blouse with a huge collar, frilkled front, and matching wrist trim. The collar was done with lace with elaborate ruffles, often with lace worked in the ruffles. Fauntleroy suits were also made with collar-buttoning suits. Some mothers would also use these items even if they could bot afford an expensive velvet suit. This allowed mothers of a range of income levels to use the Fauntleroy look. The Fauntleroy look was so popular that many mothers wanted to use it even after a boy had grown out of his Fauntleroy suit. Here rather than a Fauntleroy blouse, oin-on collars might be used. Again matching wrist cuff trim was common. These Fauntleroy blouses and pin-on Fauntleroy trim were also worn with other suits than Fauntleroy suits. Mothers would commonly add this trim to more mature suits for the first few years a boy night wear them. A family with boys of different ages might use these trim items as a form of age grading.
One of the characteristic element of the classic Fauntleroy suit was a large fancy white collar. This was a very impotant part of the Fauntleroy look.
The collars which make up an entegral part of the Fauntleroy style varied greatly. Many of the classic velvet Fauntleroy were worn with esquisite lace collars. This was especially true in the 1880s and early 90s. This lace could be quite expensive. The ruffled collars that became more common after the tirn of the 20th century were most commonly part of the blouse. Some boys, however, wore collars sewn onto the jacket. Usually separate collars were lace. The collars also varied greatly in size and shape. Some of the collrsere huge, almost hiding the small Fauntleroy jacket. Often the cuffs were made to match the collar.
HBC is not sure about the precise construction of the fancy wrist cuffs which were often worn to match the ruffled or lace collars in Fauntleroy outfits. Some of the collars and ciuffs were part of fancy blouses. Others appear to have been separate items sewn on to the jackets. One HBC contributor believes that they were worn with cuff links. HBC is less sure of this and has not noticed cufflinks in either the photographic records of these suits or mentioned in the accompanying literature. The cuffs of course normally wee part of the blouse. Unlike the collars which could be pinned on, the cuffs were simply exyensions of the blouse sleeves that were turned over. A good example is the blouse worn by Robert Mason Hamilton, a Chicaho boy in 1897.
Bows are mostly thought of as girls' adornments, they were an important part of a boy's dressy outfits in the late-19th and early 20th Centuries. We note boys during the late 19th and early 20th century wearing large collars both with and without different styles of bows. It seems to us tht it was most common to wear bows, but we see quite a number of boys with out bows as well. They passed out of fashion after World War I. While they lasted, however, they certainly added a bit of flair to boys clothes. In some cases the large bows and lace collars almost seemed to engulf the bows of the period. We note boys during the late 19th and early 20th century wearing large collars both with and without different styles of bows.
The primary Fauntleroy garments were Fauntleroy suits and blouses. The classic Fauntlreroy suit was a velvet cut-away jacket worn with knee pasnts or bloomer knickers. Many boys wore regulasr suit jackets with Funtleroy collars and sonetimes matrhing wrist trim. The iother major garmebt was the Fasuntleroy blouse. Rarely were vdestrs wiorn because the idea was to shows off the fancy blouses to best advantage.
The classic Fauntleroy suit was the garment, of course, which is most identified with the Faintleroy sytle. The suit described by Mrs, Burnett was a black velvet suit worn with lace trim, a red sash and long stockings. It reality she did not describe the now famous suit in great detail. Soon many variants of this basic suit appeared. It appeared in many different colors. Some variants, especially for summer wear were not even velvet. Some suits had ruffled rather than lace collars. One of the most significant additions were often huge bows to complement the white collars. Many boys did not have actual Fauntleroy suits, but rather a plainer suit made to look like a Fauntleroy suit with a large collar and perhaps a floppy bow. The classic Fauntleroy suit was velvet and often quite small to best show off a Fauntleroy blouse with a huge collar, frilkled front, and matching wrist trim. The collar was done with lace with elaborate ruffles, often with lace worked in the ruffles. Fauntleroy suits were also made with collar-buttoning suits.
Some mothers would also use these items even if they could bot afford an expensive velvet suit. This allowed mothers of a range of income levels to use the Fauntleroy look.
The Fauntleroy look was so popular that many mothers wanted to use it even after a boy had grown out of his Fauntleroy suit. Fauntleroy suits were worn by boys of various ages. They begin to becone less common for boys after about 7 or 8 years of zage. Older boys up to about age 13 might wear suits with Fauntleroy trim added. Here rather than a Fauntleroy blouse, oin-on collars might be used. Again matching wrist cuff trim was common. These Fauntleroy blouses and pin-on Fauntleroy trim were also worn with other suits than Fauntleroy suits. Mothers would commonly add this trim to more mature suits for the first few years a boy night wear them. A family with boys of different ages might use these trim items as a form of age grading.
Fancy blouses existed before Mrs Burnett wrote her book, especially in France. They were, however, not very common, The classic Little Lord Fauntleroy suit was worn with a small velvet jacket to create the full Fauntleroy suit. The classic Fauntleroy jacket was worn open at the front to best display the elaborate ruffled and lace trimed placket of the blouse. There were different types of Faunteleroy blouses. It could be worn with other suits or even without a suit jacketduring the summer. The blouses were done in a miriad of materials and styles. Burnett's book created a fashion sensation (1885). The Fauntleroy blouse became a major boy's garment in America. It was also an importnt item in several European countries, but no where was it as widely worn as in America.
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