Figure 1.--Here is a postcard portrait of three children, presumably siblings. Notice the boy on the left. His blouse matches his bloomer knickers. The fact that it is a post card-back portrait means that it was not taken before 1904. We would guess it was taken about 1910-15.

We see many American boys wearing blouses with knee pants during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. It was a popular summer outfit for boys. Usually the blouse was made out of a different lighter material material than the pants. The blouse was often, but not always white. We also see striped and colored bloyses. Less commonly we note boys wearing blouses made of the same heavier material as the pants. We note the blouse suits were often made with bloomer knickers rather than knee pants. This would commonly date them to the 1910s. These outfits seem very similar to tunic suits with the boy wearing a bloused top rather than a tunic. We see these suits mostly in the early-20th, but we have just begun to work on the topic. The examples we have found are often worn with detachable Eton collars as well as floppy bows. We note different styles. they seem to be mostly collar buttoning. The boy here wers a kind of side buttoning style (figure 1). We notice other example with a kind of double breasted double row of buttons. We see these blouse suits done in fabrics with various patterns. This appears to have been a dressup outfit.

Regular Blouses

The blouse was primarily a shirt-type garment, ususlly worn with trousers of some kind in a heavier materil. They were worn by both chidren and women. A shirt-type blouse was usually a dressy garment while a shirt could be either dressy or casual. It often differed from a shirt because it did not have tails. We see many American boys wearing blouses with knee pants during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. It was a popular summer outfit for boys. Usually the blouse was made out of a different lighter material material than the pants. The blouse was often, but not always white. We also see striped and colored blouses. Almost always these bous wore straight-leg knee pants. We do not begin to see many knickers (except bloomer knickers) in America until about 1908. And then very rapidly they replaced straight leg knee pants.

Blouse Styles

We note seversl different styles. This was the most common type of blouse and what is commonly meant by the term blouse. We note younger boys wearing many different styles of tunics. There appear to have been three different basic styles of blouse tunic suits: sailor, Russian, and Buster Brown blouse suits. The sailor style was especially popular for these tunic types. The style of the tunic was set almost entirely by the tunic itself and not by the pants worn woth it which were mostly covered. This is a little more complicated. Some tunics, for example, were done in the double breasted style, but these might fall into different categories, like the Buster Brown style. These suits at the time were referred to in different ways, futher complicating the task of organizing the different tunic suits into basic types. Of course tunic styling varied over time. The styles listed here are primaruly turn-of the-20th century styles. Tunics were worn throughout the 19th century, but we do not know enough about 19th century tunics yet to develop information on stylistic differences.

The Suits

The other type of blouse was a blouse suit. this was a blouse with pants mde in he same material. They were often similar to tunic suits. The blouse was shorter than the tunic, but otherwise the garments looked very similar. We wonder if theuy could be worn as either tunic or bloused to be worn as a blouse suit. We are not sure about that. A tunic seems too long to be worn as a blouse. And they woud require draw string. They were often worn with detachable collars. They were less common than the standard blouse, but we note them in the late-19th and early-20th century. There were several different types. We note Buster Brown and sailor styles. They were done for younger boys up to about 8 years, although that is only an initisl assessment. Given the heavy materisl used for the blouse, it would have mostly been a fall-winter style.

Blouse Suit Tops (Blouses)

Less common than the regular blouses we note boys wearing, we note blouses made of the same heavier material as the pants/trousers which of course made up a suit. These outfits seem very similar to tunic suits with the boy wearing a bloused top rather than a tunic. We see these suits mostly in the early-20th, but we have just begun to work on the topic. We note different styles. The most common style is the sailor blouse. But this was so common it is almost in a dtyle by itself. The examples we have found, with the exception of the sailor blouses were collar buttoning blouses. There were a variety of other styles. The blouses were all long sleeves. They all seem to be worn bloused out with waistllone drawstrings. The boy here wears a kind of side buttoning style (figure 1). We notice other example with a kind of double breasted, double row of buttons. The blouse itelf was plainly styles. Devorative items were added. They were often worn with detachable white Eton collars as well as colorful floppy bows. We are still assessing just how prevalent this was. we have a very substantial American archive. And acrtual suits or tunic suits seem more common in the early-20th century, but we are continuing to work on this fashion topic.

Blouse Suit Bottoms (Pants)

As blouse suits ha matching tops and bottoms that mean a relatively heavy top. Blouses normally used shirting mateial, meaning a heavier fabric than the pants. As a result, the suiTs were primarilly a fall and winter outfit. We ALSO note the blouse suits were often made with knickers rather than knee pants. This followded the tunic suit concention, they were mostly done wih bloomer knickers. This helps date the images. Knickers bascally become standard wear in the 1910s. And most of the blouse suit images we have found seem to date to the 1910s or the late-1910s/early-1920s. Tunic suits at the timewere mostly going out of style. Most of the styling was dome on the top. There were no destinctive blouse suit botoms. We are, however, still working on this topic and do not yet have sufficent images to build a reasonable chronology.

Fabrics

We see these blouse suits done in differet relatively heavy fabrics. This involvd a range of colprs and patterns.

Conventions

We see school age boys wearing these outfits. Most of the images we have found are boys about 6-12 years old, but we have just begun to work out the basic conventions. This appears to have been a dressup outfit.

Created: 9:29 PM 2/21/2009
Last updated: 1:28 AM 11/23/2024