*** United States boys clothes: suits chrnology 20th century 1900s








United States Boys' Suits Chronology: The 1900s

knee pants suits
Figure 1.--This 1909 portrait shows two American brothers wearing matching single breasted knee pants suits. These boys seem to be close in age, perhaps 10-12 years old. Notice the detachable starched collars, always worn with collar pins, and the somewhat unexpectedly splashy and colorful neckties. These sraight-leg knee pants trousers have ornamental buttons (at least in the case of the standing boy). The high-top shoes would be usual, as are the long black stockings. There is a hint of garter clasp on the right leg of the boy who is sitting just at the hem of his trouser leg. These boys could have worn either underwaists with supporters attached or suspender waists. They are on the edge of the point where the transition to a more masculine support garment would normally occur. Very typical middle-class American dress-up clothes for boys just finishing up primary school.

American boys still commonly wore suits at the turn-of-the 20th century. We see several different jacket styles. Norfolk suits were very popular in the early-20th century. Eton suits were less common, although we see boys with Eton collrs. We also see sack suits made in both the single and double breasted styles. Immediately after the turn-of-the 20th century, we still boys wearing knee pants with suits as was the case in the late-19th century. knickers began replacing knee pants, although kneepants were still very common in the 1900s. They were dominant in the early 1900s, but gradually we see more knickers as the decade progressed. This happened at the end of the decade. Knee pants were worn throughout the 1900s, but by the end of the decade we commonly see older boys wearing both knee pants and knickers.We begin to see knickers (1908) and for a short period we see both knee pants and knickers (1908-10). After this we see mostly knicker suits, although we do see younger boy wearing knee pants with blouses. This transition ocuured increadably suddenly and we don't know why. In Europe both knee pants and knickers were worn at the turn of the century. In America straight-leg knee pants were more standard. We have no idea what caused such a sharp change. The greart majority if American boys wore knicker suits (1910s). We see some advertisemnents or knee pants suits (1910s), but they were a decided minority and this is reflected in the photogrphhic record. This is especially notable for older boys. Younger boys seem more liklely to wear knee pants. Fauntleroy suits were still worn at the turn-of-the century by younger boys, but went out of style after mid-decade and by the 1910s. Sailor suits were still popular in the early-20th century, mostly knee pants suits in the 1900s.

Prevalence

American boys still commonly wore suits at the turn-of-the 20th century. Not only for dressing up, but for school and every day activies as well. This varied somewaht seasonally. Boys during the summer might wear just shirts and blouses. They became known as the shirt sleeve youngsters. Boys might have an older suit for everyday and a newer suit for best. There were several different styles and no one style prevailed as the standard style yet. We can see how common suits continued to be in school portraits as well as stylistic trends. The difference at the time between city and rural schools was noticable. While suits will still common, we do note a decline from the 19th century. We note this not only in the sanpshots that appeared in huge numbers because of new cameras like the the Kodak Brownie but in studio portaits as well. Never before have we seen so many studio portarits with boys not wearing suits, but instead just blouses and shirts. Never before have we seen this with families bringing their children to photographic studios.

Garments


Shirt/Blouse Collars and Neckwear

The shirt/blouse collars and neckwear were not part od the suit, but they wereva very important part of the look of the suit. Men and boys at the time did not wear open collars shirts/nlouses with suits. The shirts and bloyses wereall buttoned with priminent collars and neckwear. The younger the noy the lager and more prominent the collar and neckwear. The Fauntleroy Craze continued into the early 1900s decade. Thus we continue to see large white collars including Fauntleroy lace and ruffled collars, especially in the early-1900s. Fauntleriy cut-away javlets were becoming less commom and the age of the boys wearing them was decliing. but we still see plenty of biys weating Faunrleroy collars and floppy bow with regular sack suit jackets. We also see large non-Fauntletoy collars such as detachable Eton and Peter Pan collars. Older boys wore smaller collars. We see a range of styles including club, Eton, eylet, high (vertical), pointed, wing, and other collars. This is conplicated by the fact that many retailers assigned their own distinctive names to various styles, many with only slight differences. We see while catalig pages filled with detachavle cillars. We also see a wide range of neckwear. Again it was the smallest biys whi has the largest neckwear--huge floppy bows. We see tgese esoecially in the early 1900s. By the end id ge decade we see smaller floopy biwsm but they were still widely worn by younger boys. The boys here wear somewhat modern looking collars with modern looking neckties (figure 1). Their ties were rather large. We also see a lot of bowties in the 1900s, many rather small in contrast to the neckties.

Jackets

We see several different types of suit jacket in the 1900s. The dominant style was the sack suit done in both single- and double-breasted styles. Sack suits were suits wih lapels and we see suits with both large and mall lapels. The boys here had single-breasted jackets with fairly large lapels (figure 1). We are still working on which was more common, but we see many small lapels set high on the jacket. Our preliminary imptession is that the small lalels were a 1890s style which declined in the 1900s. Thus needs to be confirmed. A very substantial number of these suits were the lapel sack suits. There were different stylistic features. Some were done with Norfolk styling. Norfolk styling was popular in the early-20th century. We see Eton collars, but do not see Eton suits. Etons collars were much more popular in England. Younger boys still wore collar buttoning suit jackets with collars rather than lapels. This was a very common style in the 19th century which had by the turn of the 20th century had substanially decline. We still, however, see some. This would be the last decade that we see them. Younger boys might wear Fauntleroy suits, but this style was going out of style. And we see fewer boys wearing the classic cut-away jackets. More common for younger boys were sailor suits. We still see quite a number of younger boys wearing sailor suits. They were done in several different styles. *Not as many as in the 1890s, but we still see quite a few.

Pants

Immediately after the turn-of-the 20th century, we still boys wearing knee pants with suits as was the case in the late-19th century. Knee pants were the stabdard trouser style for boys for most of the decade. Knickers began replacing knee pants, although only at the end of the decde. Knee pants were the dominant trouser style for most of the decade. They were dominant in the early 1900s, but gradually we see more knickers as the decade progressed. This happened at the end of the decade. Knee pants were worn throughout the 1900s, but by the end of the decad. We commonly see older boys wearing both knee pants and knickers. We begin to see knickers (1908) and for a short period we see both knee pants and knickers (1908-10). After this we see mostly knicker suits, although we do see younger boy wearing knee pants with blouses. This transition ocuured increadably suddenly and we don't know why. In Europe both knee pants and knickers were worn at the turn of the century. In America straight-leg knee pants were more standard. We have no idea what caused such a sharp change. The greart majority if American boys wore knicker suits (1910s). We see some advertisemnents or knee pants suits (1910s), but they were a decided minority andcthis is reflected in the photographic record. This is especially notable for older boys.

Hosiery

Unlike Europe, American boys almost always wore suits with long stockings, despite the season. Younger boys might wear socks, but wuth syits, they almost always wire long stickings. We do not see boys wearing socks with suit pants, although many boys wearing knee pants went barefoot. Black long stocking were almost universal, but this is a little difficult to assess with black-and-white photography. The stockings the boys are wearing here certainly look like black, but shades like navy blue and other dark colors would appear much the same. We begin to see knicker suits at the end of the decade, anout 1908. Long stockings were worn with both knee pants and knicker suits. The boys here are only one of countless examples in the photographic record of wearing knee pants and long stockings (figure 1).

Age Trends

There were major differences in the suits boys wore in the 1900s decade and age was an imprtantb factor, although this varied from family to family. This included both age conventions and the various styles of clothing worn. Younger boys commonky wore tunic suits. The centuries old comvention of younger boys wearing dresses was ending, but tunic suits were popular during the decade. This was the tail end of the Fauntleroy era. Fauntleroy suits were going outb of style and only worn by younger boys, although somewhat older boys mightstill wear Fauntleroy trim with regular suits. Sailor suits were still popular in the early-20th century, mostly knee pants suits in the 1900s. They might be worn by younger primary school age boy. Norfolk suits were common, but we also see single and double-breasted jackets. We still see some collar-buttining jackets, butthis is the klast decadev the style was popular. Most boys wore knee pants into their teens, except in rural areas where overalls were almost universal. More than half the country still lived in rural areas. Suddenly knickers appeared at the end of the decasde with the same age conventiions and same jacket styles as worn with knee pants. Both were worn with long stiockings and high-top shoes.








HBC





Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main U.S. 20th century cronology page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossary] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]




Created: 3:13 PM 2/8/2008
Last updated: 8:25 PM 1/5/2024