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Boys of a fairly wide age range wore Fauntleroy blouses. We note both pre-school and school-age boys wearing these blouses. School-age boys wore blouses with large ruffled collars up to about 13 years old. Actualy Fauntleroy blouses, however, were nomally worn by younger boys. We see boys as young as 2 years wearing Fauntleroy blouses and suits. The most common age seems to be the pre-school years, about3-5 years. A good example is B. Curtlis Sunderland who looks about 3-4 years old. We begin to see fewer boys wearing Fauntleroy blouses after about age 6 years, although blouses with large collars were worn by boys up to 12-13 years of age. The older boys seem to have usually worn colored or pattern blouses that were not as fancy as the blouses commonly worn by the younger boys. Some boys 6 years and older did wear elaborate Fauntleroy blouses, but the plainer but large collar blouses were more common. They were referred to as Fauntleroy blouses at the time so we will include them in our age listing here. Most portraits are not identified on the back or have ages noted. Fortunately it is possible to estimate ages to a fair degree of accuracy. We might be off by a year or so, in part because some boys look younger or older than they are, but some mistakes over time will ballance out. Readers are encouraged to provide their age estimates if they think we have not estimated the asges correctly. We will inc;ude portraits with ages noted to provide a framework for our age estimates.
Boys wore Fauntleroy blouses from an early age. They were commonly worn after a boy was breeched. Boys usually beggan wearing Fauntleroy blouses at about age 2 years after they were breeched. Not all boys were breeched at age 2, but this was when breeching normally began. We see boys as young as 2 years wearing Fauntleroy blouses and suits.
The most common age for classic Fauntleroy blouses seems to be the pre-school years, meaning boys about 3-5 years old. We see large numbers of boys in the photograpic record wering Fauntleoy blouses who look to be about 3 years old. This is a good indicator of actual prevalence. Many boys at age 3 years in earlier years would not yet have been beeched and wearing skirted garments like dresses. This was a century old convention. In the late-19th century, at the time of the Fautleroy, kilt suits craze were popular. We suspect that that quite a number of doting mothers were so attracted to the Fauntleroy style that they might have breeched their sons early so they could be dressed in Fauntleroy blouses and suits. A good example is B. Curtlis Sunderland who looks to be about 3-4 years old.
American boys commonly wore Fauntleroy blouses at age 4 years. The photographic record provides us countless examples. We note a variety of styles. Most of the Fauntleroy blouss we note as this age were white. At age 4 boys wore them both with and without Fauntleroy suits. They were worn with a variety of outfits or even without jackets. Older boys once they began school might wear Fauntleroy blouses with regular jackets, but age 4 years we see many of the boys wearing the cassic Fauntleroy cut-away jacket. We note an unidentified American boy photographed in the 1890s wearing knee pants and a fancy Fauntleroy blouse with a large floppy bow. He looks to be about 4 years old. We note New York boy Freddiec Deveraux in 1892. In his case we know precisely how old he was, 4 years and 8 months. He wears his fairly modest Fauntlroy blouse as part of a kilt suit.
Large numbers of American boys at 5 years of age wore Fauntleroy blouses, including the fancy ones. This was one of the most common ages. The same was true for boys wearing Fauntleroy suits. We believe that many if not most boys wearing the fancy Fauntleroy blouses also had proper Fauntleroy suits. Here we mean the cut-away jackets, not just suits with some Funtleroy trim. Only during the summer boys might go without their jackets. This was not considered proper for adults until wekllm into the 20th century, but was considered acceotable for boys. The unidentified boy here is a good example (figure 1). His blouse is not as elabotate as many, but the portrait was probably taken about 1905 when the Fauntleroy look was going out of style. After age 5 years, boys began going to school. This affected how they were dressed. Unless being educated at home boy almost always were brreched and had their curls cut. And many were dressed in more mature fashions that woykld be more acceptable at school. But at age 5 years mother could prather mich do what ever they pleased. And because the boys were still mostly at home, had less of an idea as to how other boys thought about such matters.
We still see many 6-year old boys wearing Fauntlroy blouses. This was the age that most boys began 1st grade. They were perhaps not quite as common as for 5-year olds, but the photograohic record suggests thast there was not a huge difference.
We begin to see a few less boys wearing really fancy Fauntleroy blouses with Fauuntleroy after about age 6 years, although this trend is more apparent for younger boys. And of courses blouses with large collars were worn by boys up to 12-13 years of age.
We see many 7-year olds wearing Fauntleroy blouses. We see boys wearing them with and without the classic cut-away Fauntleroy blouses. This is shown by the photographic record. Quite a few images of 7-year olds wearing Fauntleroy blouses are archived on HBC. Most boys at age 7 had already begun school and were beginning to want more mature atire, but mothers congtinued to commonly outfit them in Fauntleroy blouses. We even see a few boys wearing them to school with Fauntleroy , but rarely after age 7. The Fauntleroy blouse was for many 7-year olds the standard dress up garment. Boys commonly wore the blouses with floppy bows. Almost all boys wore them with knee pants and black long stockings. Age 7 was a very common age for wearing Fauntleroy blouses, but they begin to fall off somewhat after age 7, especially after the turn-of-the century.
We note an unidentified boy wearing a striped Fauntleroy blouse, probably in the early 1890s. His Fauntleroy blouse is striped and has a relatively smlal collar, but ruffled front. We note brothers Arthur and Charlie (8-10 years old) wearing identical white Fauntleroy blouses in 1897. Two other unidentified brothers in the 1900s look to be 6-8 years old. The boys wear Fauntleroy blouses, but not as part of a suit.
We continue to see 9-year old boys wearing Fauntleroy blouses, but not so many with the classic Fauntleroy cut-away jackets. Quite a few bous at age 9, however wore Fauntleroy blouses. We see white blouses with large ruffled collars and the frilly fronts. We see boys with a variety of other collars, but the Fauntleroy collar was very popular. This was fairly standard summer wear for American boys from the late-1880s to the ealy 1900s. And during the winter the winter they might be worn with regular suit jackets. We see boys both in the city and rural areas wearing these blouses. The boys and age 9 do not seem engulfed by the blouses like pre-school boys, but the collars are still notably large.
The first Fauntleroy blouses were worn by younger boys. We see fewer 10-year olds at first. But by the 1890s, we see 10-year olds commonly wearing Fauntleroy blouses. A few boys at age 10 wore Fauntleroy suits, but this becomes increasing rare at age 10 years. We commonly see the blouses, but not the classic Funtleroy suits. We note white Fauntleroy blouses that are not as fancy as the ones the younger boys were wearing. The older boys seem to have usually worn colored or pattern blouses that were not as fancy as the blouses commonly worn by the younger boys. Some boys 6-years and older did wear elaborate Fauntleroy blouses, but the plainer, but large collar blouses were more common. They were referred to as Fauntleroy blouses at the time so we will include them in our age listing here. We note an oval format portrait showing a mother and father with their son who looks to be about 10-years old. The unidentified boy wears a Fauntleroy blouse with a large ruffled collar and plaid floppy bow. No information as to where or who took the portrait. The portrait is not dated, but mothers dress suggests it was taken about 1895. We note brothers Arthur and Charlie (8-10 years old) wearing identical white Fauntleroy blouses in 1897. Boys at age 10 year while they did not commonly wear the classic Fauntleroy suits, did wear less fancy Fauntleroy blouses with regular suits.
Age 11 perhaps 12 years seems to be the upper limit of American boys wearing the classic white Fauntleroy bloises with largec ruffled collars and matching front plackets. We still see some boys this age wearinhg them, but not nearly as many as the younger age grouops wearing them. Here we can not be precise because so much if the photographic record is made up of portraits of boys for which the age is not specified. Here we can only estimate the ages. While there is no way of being precise when estimating, we do notvthink thatbour estimates are generally off by morec than a year. And we ienciurafe oir reades to comment if you think our estimares are in error. We note a Rome New York family with all the boys wearing Fauntleroy blouses to about 11-years of age. See figure 4. We see some older boys wearing Fauntkeroy blouses, but these are the blouses sone in colored prunts with much less fancy and smaller collars. Also the friont plackets are notably less fancy.
We note many school age boys wearin Faunleroy blouses in the late-19th and very early-20 century. This included boys into their earlt teens. Quite number of 12 year olds wore these bloues. It as very common. The younger boys odren wire Gauntleroy suits, cut-away velvet jackets with fancy hjite blouses. Older boys were more likely to wear Fauntleroy blouses with regular suit jackets. And during the summer boys often wore these blouses without jackets, sometimes with floppy bows. We see these blouses both in studio portraits and the new snapshots made possible by he Kodak Brownie. A good example is Columbus, Ohio boy Adolph Mayer in 1896. He looks to be about 12 years old. The blouses for the older boys were often paterned bloues, stripes, polkadots, and other patterns.
School-age boys wore blouses with large ruffled collars up to about 13 years old. A good example is an Ohio family with boys dressed in identcal Fauntleroy blouses. They look to be about 9-13 years old.
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