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boys' shirts : chronological trends -- United States America 19th century
American Shirt-like Garments: Chronological Trends--19th Century
Figure 1.--Mothers usually dressed boys up in suits for formal portraits in the 19th century. As a result we don't know much about 19th century shirts as they were mostly covered by the boys' jackets. Here we have a CDV portrait, probably taken in the late 1860s. (There was no Federal Revenue stamo so we are guessing it was taken after he Civil War. The photographer was J.E. Welch, but the location is not indicated. Note the button-on styling and the fact that the shirt and pants were made out of the same material. Also notice that the collar is attached to the shirt.
We have very limited information on shirts and collars before the mid-19th century when photography was developed. The greatly increased number of images at that time provide a great deal of information on shirt-like garments and collars. Shirts with small collars seem the dominant type at mid-century. You can often varely see whay type of collar was being worn when worn with suits. We see a lot of boys wearing plaid shirt-like unics in the mid-19th century. Suit jackets, often cutaway jackets becomne nore common in the 1860s. In fact they are so common we rarely see the shirts boys are wearing. Often only a small collar shows over the jacket and vest. Some blouses do not seem to have had collars. Gradually we begin to see larger collars, usually white collars. Some were detachabe collars worn with shirt waists. Collars by the 1880s had become quite large, some enormous. Many younger boys seem almost enveloped by their collars. Younger boys might wear Fauntleroy blouses with lace collars. At the end of the century ruffled collrs were poplar, sometimnes huge, worn both with and without floppy bows. While neckwear was optional, the collars were almost always buttoned. Often school age boys wore blouses with large collars and knee pants. Eton collars were popular for formall wear.
The 1800s
We have very limited information on shirts and collars in the early 19th century before the development of photography. Available painted portraits all have subjects wearing vests and jacket covering upp the shirts. There were major changes, however, from the 18th cenury. The first was that Eli Whitneys invention of the cotton gin had two major impacts. One that it brought down the cost of cotton which began to replace linnen (flax) as the major fabric used for shirts and underwear. It also changed the dynamic of slavery in America, providing the perfect cash crop for planytation in the Siuh, just as sugar had provided a cash crop in the Caribbean. The second was hat the industrial revolution was reducing the price of fabric, enabling people to buy more and better clothing. Clothing thus began to take up a smaller portion of an individual's disposable income.
The 1810s
The 1840s
Photography was invented in France (1839) and quickly spread to America. The first format ws the Daguerreotype and we suddenly have large numbers of images and a photographic record for the first time. Here we have a problem because it is difficult to destinguish between 1940s and 50s Dags. What we see is large numbers of boys wearing patterned shirts that button down the center. Many are worn with belts making them look rather like tunics because they were not tucked into the waist. We also see many boys wearing buttom-on shirts, but as we canot destinuish between the 40s and 50s we do not know precisely how shirt trends varied in the two decades..
We know much more about the mid-19th century when photographic images become available. The greatly increased number of images at that time provide a great deal of information on shirt-like garments and collars. Shirts with small collars seem the dominant type at mid-century, but we do see soiome larger collars as well. The collars were mostly part of the shirt and not detachanle, an inovation that appeared at the end of the 1940s. All shirts had long sleeves. Many blouced at the wrist cuff, but less elaborately than in the 40s. Younger boys had shirts which buttoned on to their pants. Most boys wore their shirts buttoned at the collar, often without neckwear. Most shirts seem to have been plain, light colors. We see many portraits of boys having their portrait taken wearing shirts without jackets. This proably means thast they did not have suit jackets. This was much less common in the 60s which probably is a reflection of growing affluence in America.
We see more boys wearing suit jackets in the 1860s, but the appearance of the CDV provides us s many image that we can still assess shirt trends in the 1860s. The most obsrvble part of the shirt, however, because of all the jackets is the collar and cuffs. Boys tended to wear blouses and shirts with very small or even no collar at all in the 1860s. We see far fewer patterened shirts than in the 40s and 50s. Some blouses do not seem to have had collars. A good example is an unidentified boy. You can often often barely see what type of collar was being worn when worn with suits during the 1860s. We see a lot of boys wearing plaid shirt-like tunics and shirts in the mid-19th century. Suit jackets were very common and we can often only see the jacket and vest. Thus we often do not see the shirts boys are wearing. Often only a small collar shows over the jacket and vest. Suits with cut-away jackets became popular for younger boys in the 1860s. Here we sometimes see more of the blouses they are wearing. We continue to see shirts with sleeves that often blouse out at the wrist cuff. And we begin to see button-on outfits that look almost like one-piece outfits. The unidentified boy here is a good example (figure 1). The blouses with these button-on outfirs had attached mostly standard relativey small collats. And we see mre boys with nckwear during the 60s.
Gradually we begin to see larger collars than the 60s, but still moderate sizes. They were usually white collars. There was a substantial varition in sizes. Some were detachabe collars worn with shirt waists. We see some Eton collars as well as variable such as Eton-looking collars without the pointed collars. We see ruffled and lce collrs, but the Eton-like white collars were probably the most common. Here age of course was a factor. It becamne very common for boys to wear their jackets for formal portraits and not just blouses/shirts. We see these larger collars worn both with and without neckwear. And we see a greater variety of neckwear. We no longer see stocks, but more varied neckwear. The neckwear continues to be reltivly small, although more common and somewhat larger than what we see in the 1860s. These sort of ribbon cross ties were a popular neckwear style, especially at the beginning and mid-way through the decade. By the end of the decde we begin to see floppy bows, but not the really large ones we begin to see in the mid-80s.
The 1880s
There was an explosion of collars and neckwear in the 1880s. A major factor was Mrs. Burnett ad her book--Little Lord Fauntleroy stting off the Fauntleroy craze and a kind of mothers;' arm race in dressing their little boys. . Collars by the 1880s had become quite large, some enormous. Many younger boys seem almost enveloped by their collars. Younger boys might wear Fauntleroy blouses with lace or ruffled collars.
We see boys prominent collars, some very large. The youngest boys had the largest collars. There were all kinds. There were plain collars like Etons and Peter Pans. And ther were verry fancy ruffled and lace collars. There were mant detachable collars. But there were attached collars. Some of the fanciest were Fauntkeroy blouse with ruffled collars. -At the end of the century ruffled collars were poplar, sometimnes huge, worn both with and without floppy bows. There were also mlace collars, but ruffled collars were more common. Some ruffeled collars had lace trim. Ruffled collars were mot just for small boys, we see boys 12-13 years old wearing ruffled collars. Younger boys wore Fauntleroiy suits, Faontleroy blouses with cut-away jackets. Older boys wore the Fauntleroy blouses with regular suit jackets. During the summer, boy might just wear their blouses without jackets. Boys might do this, but adults were expected to wear their suit jackets. While neckwear was optional, the collars were almost always buttoned. Often school age boys wore blouses with large collars and knee pants. Eton collars were popular for formal wear. The collars were for shirts, blouses, and short waists. The shirt waists were what was worn with detachable collars. Older boys had pointed cillars. Adult men commonly wore wing collars.
