Figure 1.--This Rowe of Bond Stree party suit was No. RJ 232 and described as a "Crepe-de-chine 'Buster' whire crepe collr, front, cuffs, frills. In colours." The colors are unspecified. We are not entirely sure what a 'Buster' was, but it was not a tunic suit style as in America. We think it my hve mean a blouse and shorts set without a suit jacket. It was done in sizes thriugh age 5 years. This was a fancy suit, but not as fancy as several others.

Here we archive undated material in this general section for the decade. They are items we are carefully confident come from the 1910s, but for which we do not have a year. We notice another upscale retailer Rowe of Bond Street. The company for several decades set the standard for children's clothes. Bond steet is an important London retail shoping district. The company tried to market in America after World war, sending representives to important american department stores. And we notice items from the company that seem to run into the 1930s. This is apparently the company that made the coat that JFK Jr. wore saluting his father's casket (1963). We have a Rowe page we believe to be from 1910s catalog. One offers a range of party suits and another for blouses and tops from their catalog. Unfortunately it is not dated. We would guess the late-1910s. The early-20s is a possibility

Headwear

Skirted Garments

Younger boys were commoly dressed in shirted garments in the 19th century. This fashion began to declinre in the late-19th century and was much reduced in the 1900s. We no longer see many skirted garments in the 1910s with the excption of tunic suits and occassionly kilts. Tunics were often referred to as BusterBrown suits in America refering to Buster Brown, an American comic strip character who famously wore tunic suits. You can see the Busters offered by Rowe in the party suit page listed below, but they are not tunics. Dresses had virtually disappeared and Engish boys never wore smocks to any extent. We do notice a kilted suit offered by Rowe of Bond Street. It was the only skirted outfit offered on the party suit pge. This does not look like a kilt. We are not sure how to sescribe it, either a kilt suit or a tunic. As the Rowe party suit page began with size 2 years, it can be seen that skirted garments fr boys was no longer a major item. Of course we do not have the full catalog so there may have been a few boy dress items offered.

Shirts

Boys wore different kinds of shirt-lke garments. Blouses were still popular for younger boys. Row of Bond street offered a wide tange of tops and bloues for boys.

Pants and Trousers

Suits

English boys up to about 8 years of age wore a wide range of fancy juvenile suits. They might be called party suits, of course maning outfts for parties and other spcial occassions. Unlike today, children used to dress up for parties. Age 8 years was an important age for suit styling. At about this age boys from affluent families were often sent the boys off to boarding schools. Thus high end stores began oferring more mature looking sits for boys at about this age. Thus you can see that these fancy suits were only offered up to size 7 years and most in even younger sizes. Included among the party suits were blouse and short sets for boys without jackets. Rowe of Bond Street offered a wide variety of party suits for younger bouys up to age 7 years. There were many fancy suits,including both jcket uits and blouse short sets. Rowe of Bond Street was an up-scale retailer. The company for several decades set the standard for children's clothes. Bond steet is an important London retail shoping district. The company tried to market in America after World war, sending representives to important american department stores. And we notice items from the company that seem to run into the 1930s. This is apparently the company that made the coat that JFK Jr. wore saluting his father's casket (1963). We have a Rowe page we believe to be from 1910s catalog. One offers a range of party suits and another for blouses and tops from their catalog. Unfortunately it is not dated. We would guess the late-1910s. The early-20s is a possibility

Coats

Hosiery

Footwear

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Created: 4:45 PM 10/20/2014
Last updated: 4:45 PM 10/20/2014