Figure 1.--This CDV portait shows brothers in similar single-breasted lapel suits. Only one boy has his jacket open to see a vest, but we are guessing that both boys had vests. As was common at the yime, they were long pants suits. The portrait is undated, but we would guess from the cravats and long pants as well as the CDV mounts tht it dates to the 1870s. Notice the caps, ather like jockey caps, somethig you do not commonly see with boys this age. They were 12-year old Charlie and 14-year old Vandervere. Unfotunately we do not have their last names. To complement the woodlands back drop, one of the boys is holding a picnic basket and the other is holding a large stick. he studiowas the Ensminger Bros. in Independence, Iowa.

We see a quite a variety of suit jackets in the 1870s. There were notably more different styles than in the first half of the 19th century. This was important because so many boys wore suits at a time when boys wardrobes were so mimited. We see more boys wearing suits in the 1860s and this process continued in the 1870s. This was another reflection of the increasing prosperity in America as a result of industrialization. They included cut-away jackets, collar-buttoning jackerts, and sack suit jackets with laspels. Youngr boys commonly wore cut-away or collar buttoning jackets. Older boys wore lapel jackets. The lapel suits were mostly single-breasted styles.

Fancy Suits

Fancy suits like Fauntleroy suits were not yet very common. The cut-away jacket suits so popular in the 1860s continued to be worn in the early 70s, but were decling in popularity by the end of the decade. We no longer see many of the Zouae suits that we saw n the1860s.

Sailor Suits

We do not yet note sailor suits as a major style, but we believe that they did appear.

Collar Buttoning Suits

The collar-buttoning suits were for younger boys. They were a style we noted from the 1940s. We are not sure about the 30s, but we see quite a number from th 1840s on. They were basically the U.S. Army blue unforms worn in the Mexican War. We notice the Lembecke brothers in 1871. Here we have one without a collar. We bote in the 1870s a shift from the blue army uniform to these collar cuttoning jckets dome in different colors and materials. The older boys wear lapel suits. The younger boys wears a collsar-buttoning jacket. The boy looks to be about 8-years old.

Cut-away Jackets

Cut-away jackets ere still popular in the early-70s, but declined in popularity as the decade progressed.

Sack Suits

We see most boys after graduating from kilt suits and or cut-away jackets wearing sack suits that had jackets with lapels. We note Bernard Doswell in 1874. His jacket had quite large lapels. Many were three-piece suis with vests. Some of the jackets were heavily styilized. Younger boys commonly wore cut-away or collar buttoning jackets. Older boys wore the sack suits with lapel jackets iike the Iowa boys we see here (figure 1). The lapel suits were mostly single-breasted styls. Vests were very common.

Created: 7:39 AM 4/10/2017
Last updated: 7:39 AM 4/10/2017