Figure 1.-- This unidentified Glasgow boy wears what looks like a single-breasted vested suit with knee pants. Notice the tennis racket The cabinet portrait is undated, but we would guess was taken in the 1880s. The studio was A. Dunbar. |
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We notice Scottish boys wearing a variety of suits. Our Sxcottish archive is not as large as our English archive so we cannot be as definitive as with our English assessments. As far as we can tell, Scottish boys wore the same style suits as English boys with the exception of the boys wearing Highland outfits. And even here the difference was not stark in tht some Englih boys wore Highland outfits. The primary difference between Scotland and England is that Scotland was not as affluent as England, but this did not affect the styles worn. It was more a matter of to what extent families could afford the different styles. We have a portrait of an Edinburgh boy wearing a Fauntleroy outfit, but with a cape rather than a jacket. We also see Scottish boys wearing sailor suits like the ones worn by English boys. We also notice Scottish boys wearing the same kind of regular suits worn in England. We see cut-away jackets in the mid-19th century. Boys wore both single- and double-breasted jackets. Some boys from well-to-do families wore Fauntleroy suits. Norfolk jackets seem popular in the late-19th cedntury. The jackets seem the same as those worn in England and America. Scottish suits are a little different than the suits worn in America in that knickers pants seem more common than knee pants. Of course when worn with kilts the Scottish connection is clear.
We see Scottish boys beginning to wear cut-away jackets at mid-19th century. This was a popular style in England, the rest of Europe, and the United States. It was one of the most common styles for younger school-age boys at a time that boys commonly wiore suit. There was a wide range of styles. The styles we see in Scotland are basically the same as what we see in England and America. They were done in different materials and variously styled. Many were very plain and others were highly decorated with enbroidery and piping and of course every variant in between. The cut also varied with different degrees of cutting away. This was a style for younger boys. Cut-away jackets are a style boys would have worn after breeching and worn to about 10/12 years of age. We see these jackets from the mid-19th century to the turn-of-the 20th century. This isthe style of jacket worn with Fauntleroy suits, often with very small cut-away jackets so that the fancy Fauntleroy blouses could be seen to best affect. They were worn with different tyes of pants, including knee pants, knickers, and long pants. The only major difference in Scotland is that we see them being worn with kilts.
Eton suits are aittle complicated. The classic Eton suit worn at Eton College had a short jacket without lapels. The most striking feature was the large stiff collar wih pointed tips. The Eton jackets, however, were not all that common. what was common was the Eton collar. It was worn with many different jackets, but a large Eton collar gave an Eton look.
We notice boys wearing fancy velkvet suits (1870s). The Fauntleroy craze emerged on the fashion scene with the publication of Mrs. Burnett's book (1885). It was an immediate senstation in America. The photographic record shows countless boys wearing Fauntleroy suits or suits with Fauntleroy dtyling. The fashion spread across the Atlantic, the first major fashion style to ,most eastward across the Atlantic. The Fauntleroy craze was importnt in Europe, but not nearly as important as in America. We do not think thst the Fauntleroy Craze was a probounced in Scotland as in Englnd. Here are smaller Scottish archive may be affecting our asssessment. So at this time we are unable to sau how prevalkenbt Fauntleoy suits were in Scotland, The Fauntleroy Craze was most popular in the late-19yh century, about 1885-1905. We do not yet, however, hsve any 19th century examples. We have found some examples from the early-20th century. We have a portrait of an Edinburgh boy wearing a Fauntleroy outfit, but with a cape rather than a jacket. Some boys from well-to-do families wore Fauntleroy suits. We have found another ecample done as a kind of bloomer knicker romper suit at about the same time. This is not precisely a Fauntleroy suit, but the velvet mterial and lace collr gives it a Fauntleroy look. None of the examples we have found so far look like outfits that would have been widely worn.
Norfolk jackets seem popular in the late-19th cedntury. The jackets seem the same as those worn in England and America. Scottish suits are a little different than the suits worn in America in that knickers pants seem more common than knee pants. Of course when worn with kilts the Scottish connection is clear.
We also notice Scottish boys wearing the same kind of regular suits worn in England. Boys wore both single- and double-breasted jackets. This unidentified Glasgow boy wears what looks like a single-breasted vested suit with knee pants (figure 1). Notice the tennis racket The cabinet portrait is undated, but we would guess was taken in the 1880s. The studio was A. Dunbar.
We have not found many images of Scottish boys wearing sailor suits. It may have been that the sailor suit was less popular in Scotland than England, but our Scottish archive is still very limited, so we are unable to make any definitive assessments at this time. We do not notice any spcific Scottish stylistic trends. As far as we can tell, the sailor suits worn in scotland were essentially the same as the styles in England. Of course as both were based on Royal Navy uniforms, there were unlikely to be any great differences. We do not have much chronological informtion yet because our archive is so limited. Our earliest images date from about 1870. They look much like the the suit that the British princes wor in the 1840s which ws the beginning of the convention of dressing boys in sailor suits. By the 1880s we see more varied style divering from Royal Navy uniforms to a degree. We see, for example, button jackets rather than just the pull-over blouse Royal Navy sailors wore. We notice the various different types of pants, long pants, knee pants, and short pants. As in England, well-to-do boys went to private schools and wore school uniforms beginning about 8 years of age. This affected the prevalence and age conventions for sailor suits. Sailor suits in Europe were generally most popular with middle-class and upper class boys. This seems to be true in Scotland as well. There may have been some regional differences. The examples we have found so far have been in the Lowlands and not the Highlands. The Lowlands are the area of Scotland where English influences are the most pronounced. We note an unidentified boy from Grenock in the Lowlands south of Glasgow, we think about 1870. We also see an unidentified Scottish boy wearing a sailor suit, probably in the 1890s). It is like the sailor suits worn in England. Ayr is in the Scottish Lowlands where english styles were dominant.
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