Figure 1.--We see a few boys wearing vests without suit jackets in the 19th century, but it was not very common. This Philadelphia boy was probably photographed in the 1870s. Click on the image to see the photographer's advertising on the card which is useful in dating the image. I'm not sure what color this vest might have been. Note his hat complete with streamers carefully placed in the lower-right hand corner.

As far as we can tell, the vest was primarily worn as part of a suit in the 19th and early 20th century. We see boys wearing blouses and shirts and we see boys wearing suit jackets with and without vests. We rarely, however, see boys wearing vests without their suit jackets. We have noted a few portraits of boys just wearing their vests in the 19th century, but they are relatively rare. This may, however, reflect the rarity of informal snapshot like photographs before the appearance of the Brownie. We are less sure about the early 20th century. A new fashion developed in the 1950s with boys wearing a vest that contrasts with a suit jacket and pants. Some were part of a suit, but others were simply purchased separately to go with a pair of short pants or slacks. It was worn as a semi-formal style of dress. It was normally worn with trousers of contasting colors. This style was particularly popular around the Christmas holidays. Such vests might be a bright holiday color.

The 18th Century

We can not access how common wearing vests without jackets were in the 18th century. The vest was a fairly common garment, al least for men in comfotable circumstances. And at the time, boys were dressed like small edditions of their fathers.

The 19th Century

As far as we can tell, the vest was primarily worn as part of a suit in the early-19th century. Without photography, however, it is difficult to know for sure. we do note boys wearing just vests in the earliest photographs--Daguerreotypes, at least in America (1840s-50s). We do not know if they were worn like this earlier. We suspect that they were worn like this earlier, but before photography this is hard to establish. Most of the examples we have found are Dags and Ambros !1840s-50s), we have found few CDVs which boys wearing just vests (1860s). Almost all the vests we note in the subsequent 19th cenury photographic record was worn as par of suits. We see boys wearing blouses and shirts and we see boys wearing suit jackets with and without vests. We rarely, however, see boys wearing vests without their suit jackets. We have noted a few portraits of boys just wearing their vests in the 19th century, but they are relatively rare. This may, however, reflect the rarity of informal snapshot like photographs before the appearance of the Brownie in 1900, but the formality of the age also has to be considered. We have noted very few in America. Our knowledge of other countries is more limited, but as far as we can tell was also relativly rare. This may have changed some what by the late 1890s. We do, however, see a few formal portraits of boys dressed up in vests without their suit jackets such as the boy here . Such images, however, are quite rare.

The 20th Century

We are less sure about vest conventions in the early 20th century. Boys in the early 20th century wore suits much more commonly than is the case today. Boys wore suits to school and we even see boys playing while wearing suits. Most formal portraits still shows boys wearing vests under suit jackets. With the invention of the Brownie in 1900 we have many more informal photographs of children. We do notice some boys playing who are wearing vests without jackets. We are not yet sure how common this was. A new fashion developed in the 1950s with boys wearing a vest that contrasts with a suit jacket and pants. Some were part of a suit, but others were simply purchased separately to go with a pair of short pants or slacks. It was worn as a semi-formal style of dress. It was normally worn with trousers of contasting colors. This style was particularly popular around the Christmas holidays. Such vests might be a bright holiday color.