Figure 1.-- Here we see three children, presumably siblings, on an outing. They look to be about 3-9 years old. Noticed how dressed up they are fir an outdoor occasion. One boy wears a broad-brimmed hat, bow, and tunic suit. The snapshot is undated, but look like the late-1910s. It was with a group of snaps from the 1920s.

There were several different skirted garments that boys wore. Dresses and skirts were the major skirted garments. Dresses were the oruginal skirted garment, evolving from medieval robes. We are less sure when skirts became important, but they were clearly important by the 19th century when photography first appeared. And kilt suits appeared in America during the mid-19th century (1850s). We see large numbers of Ameriucan booys wearing them> Actually one than dresses in the ohoyogrphic record. Rhey were popular until the turn-of-the 20th century. Smocks were never of any importance in America for boys or girls. Pinafores were widely worn, but almost entirely girls. The only skirted garment we continue see boys wearing to any extent in the 1910s was tinic suits. .

Kilt Suits

The major trends at work in the 1900s played out in the 1910s. Kilt suits were a major fashion duting the second half of the 19th century. We see a huge number of examples in the photigrasohic record. They were more popular in America than in any other country, including Scotland. They disappeared completely by the 1910s.

Dresses

The fashion of outfitting boys in dresses continued to be quite common in the 19th century, although by the end of the century in had begun to wain. At the turn of the century this trend continued, althiough much less commonly and for increasingly younger boys. Dresses for boys became much less common, although we still see some, mostly very young boys wearing them. And by the the 1910s we see far fewer boys wearing dresses, but the convention ha not yet totally disappeared. This development is notable in both catalogs and the photographic record One of the last ads we have noted offering dresses for boys was in the Best & Co. 1918 catalog which offered a variety of summer dresses for todlers. Most of the examples we see in the photographic record are simple white frocks. The convention seems to have continued especially in rural areas. The reason that American mothers like mothers in Europe stopped dressing their sons in dresses is not all together understood. Perehaps readers will have some uinsights. Whatever the reasons they seem to have been essentially the same in both areas. The cultural changes were taking place in European countries as it occurred in America. Little boys more commonly wore the newer fashions like rompers, tunic suits, and short pants. The custom of little boys wearing dresses did not disappear entirely. The style of the dresses increassingly were plainer frocks and not the more fancy girlish styles with elaborate lace and ruffle trim. The age of the boys wearing dresses had declined significantly. While the practice of outfitting boys in dresses, continued in the 1910s, it was becoming much less common and by the end of the decade after the War it was no longer a common practice except for infants.

Tunics

One of the most characteristic styles of the early 20th Century in America was the tunic suit. This style was most popular in the 1900s, but still widely worn in the the 1910s, especually the early part of the decade. By the end of the decade, however, it had begun to pass from the fashion scene. We see some variastion in styling with some older boys wearing shorter-length tunics well above their knees. They were done in various colors, but white tunics are very common in the photograpohic record. Here home sewing may have been a factor. The tunic worn with bloomer knickers were a very flexible garment. There were worn both for play and when dressing up. Some younger boys even wore them to school. We see pants becoming increasingly important for younger boys. Most school-age boys wore knickers. And unlike dresses and kilts, tunic suits were worn with bloomer knickers. Most were bloused above the knee, but some were worn with straight-leg knee pants as well. We continue to see a few wearing tunic suits in the 1920s. Many mothers who might have dressed their boys in dresses, instead appear to have chosen the related tunic style. To many boys, tunics were preferable to dresses as they good wear knicker-like bloomers that showed they were no longer wearing girlish dresses. There were several types of tunics, Russian tunics and Buster Brown tunics were some of the most popular. The sailor style was also very common. One characteristic feature of all these styles was a decorative belt that had no real use. It could be the same color as the tunic or a contrasting color. Tunics by the 1910s were mostly worn with short hair cuts. Ringlet curls, especially as te decade progressed, became increasingly less common. Many boys still wore Buster Brown bangs with their tunics, but increasingly common were short hair cuts.

Created: 4:31 AM 6/30/2021
Last updated: 4:31 AM 6/30/2021