Figure 1.--This CDV portrait show a a boy who looks to be about 6 years old, but is otyherwise unidentified. He wears a button-on suit with bloomer knickers and matching light-colored long stockings with high-top shoes. There is no studio infomation. The portrait is undted, but wold have been taken in the 1860s. .

American fashion trends in the mid-19th century seem basically a refection of European trends. This included both children and adults. Boys in the early-19th century wore long pants. We begin to see shortened-lenth pants t mod-centuty. Ir as fashionble trend imported from Europe. We also see boys wearing a variety of suits. Most boys wore long pants, but we see some boyswearing shortened-length pants. The most common tyoe was straight-leg knee pants. We do see some bloomer knockers in the 1860s. They were mot as common as long pants and knee pants. After the 1860s, bloomer knickers became less common. they were much more common in Europe. By the late-19th century we see destinctive Anerican trends. We note many younger American boys wearing bloomer knickers with tunic suits at the turn-of- the 20th century. Most American boys wore their tunic suits with bloomer knickers. They were widely worn from the late-1890s through the early 20s. At the time that tunic suits became popular at about the turn of the 20th century, most American boys wore knee pants. Boys tended to wear tunics suits, however, with bloomer knickers. A good example is Harold Howes in 1905. By the 1910s, knickers were more common, especially for older boys, but the younger boys wearing tunic suits still wore bloomer knickers. A good example is the Hubbard brothers in 1917. Generally knee pants went out of style in the 1900s decde anbd anerican boys began wearing proper knickers. We see bloomer knickers while tunics suits were popular, but they disppeared in the 1920s when tunics went out of style.

Created: 6:04 PM 7/17/20228
Last updated: 6:04 PM 7/17/2022