Figure 1.--The mother of these unidentified children displayed a variety of choices about neckwear. She chose a floppy bow that covered up the large ruffled collar. She decided against a floppy bow for his siter. The portrait is undated, but the mount suggests the late-1890s. The photographer was the Erler-Sunbeam Gallery in Peoria, Illinois.

We see boys commonly wearing floppy bows in the late 19th and early 20th century. There were a range of conventions that developed for these bows some of which addressed size. They were not universal. Mothers had very different attitudes so we see quite a variety of choices associated with wearing these bows. We do not know of any actual fashion guidelines actually written down at the time. There were many publications at the time giving fashion advise. They wore them to dress up for parties and church. We also see them commonly worn to school. A good example is a Catholic school in the 1890s. There were a range of conventions associated with wearing floppy bows. We see boys wearing floppy wows without elaborate collars. We also note elaborate collars being worn without floppy bows or other neckwear. Floppy bows were, however, the most common ndeckwear orn with fancy Faunrleroy ruffled and lace collars. Her mothers adoped various conventions. Some mother chose huge collars with modest floppy bows. Other mothers wanted huge bows which covered or almost covered the collar. With other collars such as Eton collars, neckwear was more diverse. We see many floppy bows, but we also see other nrckwear such as bow ties and neckwear. Here age was often a factor. Gender was also a factor. We note girls with floppy bows, but the huge floppy bows were more common for boys.

Created: 7:43 AM 12/10/2014
Last updated: 7:44 AM 12/10/2014