We know much more about the lace collars Americn boys wore in the 19th century, especially after th invebntion of photography. We see boys wearing lace collars throughout the 19th century. The popularity and size of those collars varied substatially. We do not have much information on the early 19th century, but ruffled rather than lace collars seem more popular for fshionably dressed boys. At mid-century we note women and girls using lace, but not very commonly do we see boys with lace collars. Collars at mid-century tended to be very small. We note some ruffled collars, but not lace collars. We still see small collars in the 1860s. This began to change in the 1870s. We begin to see larger collars and some lace collars. A good example is an unidentified Salem boy. Another example is a Newark boy. Boys of various ages in the late-19th century might wear lace collars. We note them being worn both with and without floppy bows. It is a collar style common associated with the Little Lord Fauntleroy suits which became popular in the 1880s. Boys also wore them with dresses. An eample is two Rochester boys in 1884. They were worn before that, but as far as we can tell, they were not very common.

The 1840s

The Fahuerreotype was invented in France (1839). It was the first commercial phootographic process. Daguerreotype studios spread like wildfire in the United States. The number of resulting images were substantial incomparison to the painted images of the early-19th century, but still relatively small compard to what would come later in the decade. We do not see many boys wearing lace collars in the 1840s.

The 1850s

At mid-century we note women and girls using lace, but not very commonly do we see boys with lace collars. Collars at mid-century tended to be very small. We note some ruffled collars, but not lace collars.

The 1860s

We still see small collars in the 1860s. Collars were so small that we can often only see them peeping out at the neck over suit jackets. We can't tell much about the collars, but some of them do seem to be lace collars.

The 1870s

Collar sizes were relatively similar during the 1860s. The size of collars began to change in the 1870s and were much more varied. We see quite a wide range of collar sizes. Collars at the beginning of the decade, especially the early-70s still tended to be relatively small like 1860s collars. We gradually begin to see larger collars, including some lace collars. Collar size varied during the 1870s. We do not see the huge collars of the 1880s, but we do see some younger boys with good-sized collars and this included lace collsrs. Thus unlike the 1860s we get many good views of the collars. This occurred well before the publication of Mrs. Burnett's Little Lord Fauntleroy in the 1880s. This shows that she was drawing on existing styles rather than creating an entirely new style. Of course fancy garments like lace collars became much more popular with the publication of Mrs. Bunett's book. A good example from the 1870s is an unidentified Salem boy. Another example is a Newark boy. We see mostly younger boys wearing lace collars in the 1870s, primarly pre-school boys and younger primary school boys. They were worn with a variety of skirted garments and knee pants suits which were still not universally worn by boys. We do not see them with long pants suits. The lace we see is often real lsce, unlike the 1890s when we see a loy of eyelet lace.

The 1880s

Boys of various ages in the late-19th century might wear lace collars. e note both larger collars and lce collars in the early 1880s, before Mrs. Burnett wrote her book nd the Fauntleroy craze begn (1885). Here we see real lace collars and not the even larger ruffeled and usully cut out lace that becamne sopopular in the 1890s. We note them being worn both with and without floppy bows. we begin to see larger lace collars in the 1880s. We note Henry Gates Hayes wearing a very lrge lace collar in 1881. This was the first really large lace collar we note. We also see two Rochester boys in 1884. They were worn before that, but as far as we can tell, they were not very common. It is a collar style common associated with the Little Lord Fauntleroy suits which became popular in the 1880s. Boys also wore them with dresses. Mrs. Burnett publised Little Lord Fauntleroy (1885). The illistrations with the book showed Cedric wearing lace collars. This created an associated between the lace collar and Little Lord Fauntleroy suits. And we seen many bore boys with lace collars after the publication of the book. Really large collars appeared at this time and steadily increased in size. The lace collars were at first very commonly, but we also begin to see ruffled collars without lace. We see many boys wearing Fauntleroy suits with lace collars. We also see lace collars on many other garments. A good example is Ralph Cope wearing a lace collar on his dress in 1888.

Figure 10--Nere we see a boy in the 1890s. Mote the huge size of the collar cand how lace is orked into the ruffles.

The 1890s

We see many boys in the 1890s wearing large collars. Really large collars first appeared in the mid-1880s and steadily incrwased in size. We see huge Fauntleroy collars throughout the 1890s. For the most part these were large ruffled collars. These large collars were very popular for boys. Some had lace mixed in with ruffles (figure 10). We also see pure lace collars, but ruffled collars which were less expensive and much more common. Often cut out lace was used on the large collars rather than true lace. These ruffled collars gave a visual impact that was not possible with the much more expensive lace. Some virtually engulf the small boys that wore them. Lace collars could be large, but not nearly as large as the less expensive ruffled collars. The lace collars were done in many different forms. Many boys wore blouses with large ruffles during the 1890s. The lace collars were mostly worn with suits or during the summer with fancy blouses. The ruffled collars were generally part a blouse. The lace collars were more likely to be separate pin-on collars.

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Created: 10:10 PM 4/5/2010
Last updated: 9:16 PM 4/8/2014