Figure 1.--These two unidentified brothers look to be about 8-13 years of age. Mother has for the most part dressed them alike in double-breasted suits with high set lapels. The suits are done with knee pants and worn with dark lokng stockings and high-top shoes. The only difference is that the younge boy has a large ruffled collar. The cabinet card portrait was probably taken in the late-1890s. The mount, fashions, and whicker furniture are all afacyors in the dating. The studio was O'Neil in New Bedford, Massachusettes.

Age grading was not just done by different types of suits. There were several devices used for age gradeing of boys wearing suits. They included suit styles as well as decorative items such as neckwear and collars. Many mothers did not use fancy decorative items, but many did. Even without decorative items, age greading could be done with other decices. At tgjhis tome we do mot have a good fix on why decorative items were or were not used. The fashion sense of the mother may have been involved, but ther could be other factors such as religion and social class. One facor that does not seem to be ivolved is locatgion. We see decorative items in the fashionable northeaster cities as well as out West in remotes rural towns. One fact is very clear from the photographic record, just how commonly decotrative items were used for age grading. These devices could be used on brothers wearing both different suits as well as the same style of suits. Age grading was notable in the 19th-20th century. Decorative items were particularly common during the Fauntleroy era (late-19th -- early-20th centuries). The primary decorative decices were fancy collars and neckwear. The fancy collars included both fuffled and lace collar. Some were so large that they seemed to almodst engulf the boy. There were both pin-on collars and fancy blouses with attached large collars. These might include fancy fronts and wrist cuffs which matched the collar. There were also large,but not so fancy tyles like Eton collars and Peter Pan collars. The Eton collars had a wider age range than the Funtleroy nd Peter Pan collars. Another important item the neckwear. Particularly important were floppy bows, often quite large bows. Other neckwear was wide worn, but not important in age grading. They came in a wide range of colors, patterns, and sizes. The largest bows were generally used for younger boys and smaller bows for older boys. We see various combinations, the bows being used both with and without the fancy collars. Buttons were another decorative item, but here there was also a functional factor. Younger children could manipulate larger buttons better than small buttons. Also buttons also had a military look . Buttons of course were employed in button-on clothing, although sometimes cobered up rather than used for decoration. Another purely decorative item was sashes, but they were far less common than fancy collars and floppy bows.

Created: 4:02 AM 10/14/2014
Last updated: 4:02 AM 10/14/2014