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Button-on clothing was another option for younger boys. The major purpose for button-on clothing was to hold up a boy's pants. The skeleton suit was essentially an early example of button-on styling. We think the first example of button-on clothing we know about. The skeleton began going out of style in the 1830s, but the introduction of photography shows many examples of American boys wearing button-on clothing in the mid-19th century. Button-on styling was a major style throughout the remainder of the 19th century. The buttons were part of the styling with skeleton suits. As boys began wearing more modern pants types, the buttons were less commonly used as part of the styling. Boys often we blouses rather than shirts. And the blouses had buttons sewn on at waist level. These buttons were engaged with openings on the pant at waistline, holding the pants up. We see boys often wearing blouses rather than shirts with tails. In fact, the buttons were often covered over so that they can not be seen leaving one to wonder what was holding the pants up. This is often difficult to pick up on because for studio portraits which were the bulk of 19th century photography, boys by the 1860s usually wore suit jackets making it impossible to make out the suspension method. A kind of waist flap or other device was commonly used. We are not sure why all of a sudden it was seen as necessary to cover over he buttons. This was very common throughput the second half of the 19th and very early-19th century. We also see a lot of button-on outfits after World War I when Olver Twist styling became popular. in he 1920s which continued to be popular through the 1940s. We note button-on outfits made to about size 10. They were done in a wide range of styles. The style was less common for girls because dresses were one piece garments and did not require suspension. Girls were ore likely to be done with suspenders like boy suspender pants.
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