Figure 1.--This CDV portrait is undated, but we know it was talken in 1881 or later, because an 1881 medal award is mentioned on the back. Thus it was probably taaken 1882-85. Clithbert is 7 years old, Albert is 10 yeas, and Arthur is 12 years. While the younger boys wear knee pants, Arthur almost certainly wears long pants with his Eton suit.

Little boys continued to wear dresses and other skirted garments in the 1880s. We also notice English boys wearing kilt suits, but this style was not as common as in America. We see more boys, however, wearing Highland kilt outfits. The Fauntleroy suit appeared in England during the 1880s. The style was an important fashion for boys after breeching. We no longer commonly see cut-away jackers, except for Fauntleroy suits. Like kilt suits, Fauntleroy suits were not as common as in America. English boys tended to wear bloomer knickers with Fauntleroy suits, while American boys were more likely to wesar straight-leg kneepants. The sailor suit was a well established style, although often it was not worn by boys older than 8 years. That was because this was the approximate age that boys began to attend their preparatory boarding school. Shortened-length pants became increasingly common for boys in the 1880s. While long pants were still very common, shortened-length pants were much more common than in the 1870s. Here there were variations from family to family as well as social-class factors involved. They were widely won by boys at private schools, although this varied from chool to school. We note both knee pants and knickers. Eton collars were standard for well dressed boys. We see large numbers of boys wearing these gleaming white, stiff collars. We note boys wearing both Eton suits as well as other styles like Norfolk suits with Eton collars. Also helpful are our family and school pages for the 1880s.

Created: 7:30 AM 8/12/2009
Last updated: 6:42 AM 8/14/2019