*** Little Lord Fauntleroy suits -- skirted garments









Little Lord Fauntleroy Skirted Outfits

Fauntleroy kilt suit
Figure 1.--This boy is 5-year old Carl Lovett. The oportrait was taken Octover 18, 1893. Carl wears a Fauntleroy kilt suit with a Fauntleroy blouse and huge white flopph bow. It was aark-colored suit, but does not look like velvet. The studio was Thhiel in Duluth, Minnesota.

The classic Fauntleroy suit was worn with kneepants. The style was so popular, however, that many doting mothers wanted to adopt it for their sons before he was breeched. Thus Fauntleroy styling was used for both dresses and kilt outfits. Almost as soon as Little Lord Fauntleroy suits began appearing on American boys, dresses in velvet and other materials with large lace collars appeared. They differed from the Fauntleroy kilts in that the dresses were one-piece garments. They came in a wide variety of styles and materials, but the one recurrent element was a prominent lace collar. Velvet kilt-skirts were also made that could be work with a jacket and lace collared blouse. These suits could be worn after breeching by simply replacing the skirt with kneepants. These were two-piece garments. These suits had a strong advantage for the thrifty mother who did not yet believe that her son was old enough to be breeched and wear kneepants. When the time finally came to breech him, he could continue wearing his velvet Fauntleroy jacket and lacy blouse. All he needed was a pair of velvet knee pants.

Fauntleroy Dresses

Almost as soon as Little Lord Fauntleroy suits began appearing on American boys, dresses in velvet and other materials with large lace collars appeared. They differed from the Fauntleroy kilts in that the dresses were one-piece garments. They came in a wide variety of styles and materials, but the one recurrent element was a prominent lace collar.

Fauntleroy Kilts

The classic Little Lord Fauntleroy suit was worn with kneepants or bloomer knickrs. Some mothers, however, were so enamored with the Fauntleroy look that they wanted to atire their younger sons who had not yet been breeched in the new Fauntleroy look. One option was a Fauntleroy jacket and blouse, but worn with a kilt or skirt. Some mothers also chose dresses with Fauntleroy styling. Often the kirts were referred to as kilts. Quite commonly they were plaid skirts, but not always. Only rarely were proper Highland kilts with full regalia worn, especially in America. . These boys were dressed in a typical Fautleroy jacket and lace collar, but with a kilt or frock instead of kneepants. The kilt was rarely a Scottish plaid, but made of the same material as the jacket. This fashion gave the apearance of a dress rather than a Scottish kilt. The Fauntleroy suit dress/kilt was particularly popular in the 1880s and early 1890s, but declined as the new century approached and the fashion of dressing small boys in dresses wained. The skirted Fauntleroy suits were generally for the younger boys. Some particularly doting mothers, however, decided to dress their older boys in a kilted Fautleroy suit, consisting of a lacey blouse and collar, and velvet jacket, just like the traditional Fauntleroy suit. The only difference was a kilt instead of kneepants. In such instances, the outfit of the older boy would generally be a plaid kilt looking like an actual Scottish kilt rather than the solid color kilt suits worn by the younger boys. Apparently, it was more acceptable for an older boy to wear an actual Scottish kilt than the more juvenile kilt suits where the jacket and skirt were made of the same material. I believe the tartans used were usually bright Higland patterns and not the muted plaids worn with kilt suits.







HBC








Fauntleroy Related Pages:
[Fauntleroy dresses] [Fauntleroy blouses] [Fauntleroy movies] [Lace collars] [Collar bows] [Vivian Benett]
[Fauntleroy patterns] [Literary characters: Cedric Erol]



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Created: February 10, 2003
Last updated: 10:00 AM 11/23/2011