Figure 1.--These children's fashions were offered by La Maison Pauline Royer, Rue de Rivoli in 1863. This boy wears a Highland kilt with full regalia.
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Figure 1.--These children's fashions were offered by La Maison Pauline Royer, Rue de Rivoli in 1863. This boy wears a Highland kilt with full regalia. |
French boys are not noted for wearing kilts. French fashion magazines, however, show boys wearing kilts in the 1860s. They appear in full Higland regalia, indistinguishable from the outfits being worn in Scotland. Queen Victoria introduced the style as boys wear when she began dressing her eldest boy, Bertie, in a kilt in the mid-1840s. We are not sure when the style first appeared in France. It appaears to have been fashionable during the 1880s, although often in kilt-influenced garments rather than full Hugland regalia. We believe that the Highland kilt was little seen in France by the 1890s. Our information, however, is still very limited.
French boys are not noted for wearing kilts, especially full Higland regalia. French fashion magazines show boys wearing Highland kilts in the 1860s. We believe that this was primarily boys from affluent families with fashionable mothers. We do not think that they were widey worn by French boys. Garments with kilt styling were more common.
French fashion magazines in the 1860s show boys wearing kilts as part of full Higland regalia, indestinguishable from the outfits being worn in Scotland. They are even wearing the sporans. The boy hears wears a Glengary cap. French boys also tams, but I do not know if they wore them with Highland kilts, we are inclided to think that they did. Note that the boys also werars a shoulder sash or tartan, sporan, dirk, and Argyle kneesocks.
Queen Victoria introduced the style as boys wear when she began dressing her eldest boy, Bertie, in a kilt in the mid-1840s. The 1949 Winterhalter portrai which was reproduced for magazines and the 1855 visit by the Royal family to meet Napoleron III were ceratinly important in spreading the Highland kilt fashion. The Prince of Wales was at the time 14 years old and reportedly created a censation when he appeared in his Highland kilt. The French may have also been a romantic attachment to Scotland. Mary Queen of Scotts, for example lived many years in France and fior a time was expected to be Queen of France. Her descendents, the Stewarts spent years of exile there as did Bonnie Prince Charlie.
We are not sure when the style first appeared in France. Presumably it would have beern the 1850s. Men may have wiorn kiklts earlier, but as a children's outfit it probably was dur to Queen Victoria's inspiration in the 1840s. It appears to have been fashionable during the mis-1880s, but little seen by the late-1890s. Our information, however, is still very limited.
We are unsure as to the age at which the kilt was considered appropriate for French boys.
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