United States Boys' Clothes: Neckwear Chronology--The 1870s


Figure 1.--This CDV studio portrait shows an unidentified boy wearing a ribbon cross tie. Notice the color bands. The back has fancy artwork identifying the pPhotographic Studio of H. Q. Norton, 2228 Washington St., Boston. It was taken in 1879.

Neckwear was increasingly common and quite varied in the 1870s. Rarely do we see formal portraits with open collars or even buttoned collars without neckwear. This seems part of an increasing formality of dress in America. This was in part associated with both urbanization and the increasing wealth associated with industrialization. We see a major shift from the 1860s when stocks were still worn. The 1870s styles of neckwear were a continuation of the styles which appeared in the 1860s. We no longer see stocks in the 1870s. We see an increasing differential between the neckwear worn by men and boys. We see more boys wearing neckwear and both the neckewear and collars were larger than the 1860s, although still not really very large. We do not see, however, any really large bows and collars. We note boys wearing floppy bows in the 1870s, but they were relatively small. We continue to see boys wearing cross ties done with relstively thin ribbons in the 1870s. Ribbon with bands of varied colors were popular. We see some floppy bows in the 70s, especially the late-70s, but they tended to be very small. We see some bows that look rather like bowties. We do not yet see neckties.







HBC





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Created: 8:44 PM 6/17/2010
Last updated: 8:44 PM 6/17/2010