Figure 1.--This gold edge cabinet card portraitvshows an unidentified boy wearingv ashort with a kilt-skirt. Noteice the sgirt is tucked unto the waist and not bloused. He wears a moderate floppy bow. The kilt-skirt was pleated. . We do not know if it was part of a kilt suit and the boy was not wearing thejacket. The studio was Hodgdon in Falmouth, Massachusettes.

We note quite a range of blouses worn with skirts. The blouse/shirt and skirt may have been an acceptable style or perhaps primarily a concession to the hot summer weather. Adults of course were expected to wear jackets. This convention was relaxed for children, at least during the summer. We think many of these portraits were taken during the summer and that the boys were just not wearing the matching jacket with the kilt-suit. We note many images of boys wearing blouses with knee pants during this period for similar reasons. Wether mothers just bought or sewed a skirt or the boy just did not wear the jacket we do not know. Of course skirts were relatively easy to sew at home while jackets were much more complicated. We note many skirts without kilt features, but we note them being worn with suit jackets as well as without jackets. We note some images with boys wearing skirts that do not seem to be part of a suit. Either the boy is not wearing a suit jacket or the skirt is a pattern that seems unlikely to be done in a jacket. The convention was that a skirt could be a loud pattern, but this was much less likely for the jacket. How common this convention was we are not sure. We have noted more portraits of boys wearing kilt suits (matching jackets and skirts). Notice the boy on the previous page wears a blose thatbhas ben bloused over the waistline. We also notice shirts that wee tucked into the waist od the skirt. Conventions

Created: 9:22 AM 8/9/2014
Last updated: 9:22 AM 8/9/2014