Figure 1.--American boys usually had their collar bows tied in perky little knots. This American boy wears his bow ribbon more like a tie, which was more common in France. This photograph was probably taken about 1905. Notice th boy'sringlets. This hair fshion persisteda little beyond the fashion of dessing younger boysin skirted garments.

Collar bow styles varied greatly from country to country. We note several different styles of bow knots. The most notable were the large floppy bows popular during the Fauntleroy Era (1885-1905), especially in America. Perky little floppy bows soon turned into giant bows as American mothers tried to to utdo ech other with the bows for their sons. We see countless eamples of these mastefully tied floppy bows in America. The huge bows for younger boys were a kind of American specialty. It is notable how perfectly ties the bows were. We also note a kind of flat bow worn in the 1870s. Untied bow ribbons were more common in Europe andexceedingly ae in America. Bow tesappeared toward the turn-of the 20th century. .

Flat Bows

Some bow look flat, almost as if they were ironed. As far as we can tell these bows were usually black. They may have evolved from the stocks worn in the 1850s-60s. I think these flat bows were most popular in the 1870s, but that needs to be confirmed. A good exanple is Emery Washington Elliot, a San Francico boy abouy 1880.

Standard Floppy Bow

Most of the bow knots for large floppy bows were a fairly standard one. The two wings of the bow were generally about the same size as the tail. This was particularly true of the larger bows. There were some exception to this standard. Some bows were rather like string ties, although these were little seen by the 1880s. Other bows were relatively rare with little or no noticeable tail. These different knots probably had names at the time. Unfortunately I do not have details on these names. Interestingly the neatly tied perky bows seem to have been particularly popular in America. They were much less seen in England, France, and other European countries. Most of the larger bows came from the 1880s and 90s.

Narrow Ribbon Bows

Most bows during the late 19th century were made of quite wide lengths of ribbon which tied into wide floppy bows. Before these wide bows became popular in the 1870s, a popular style was the narrow ribbon bow worn with a relatively small collar. This style of bow was common in the 1860s and was worn by both boys and men. The slender ribbon bow as a child's style declined in the 1870s as mothers opted for increasingly large bows. It is today largely seen as a western style an often worn by American opting for a western or cowboy look.

Unknotted Bows

Some boys wore their bow ribbons more like a tie without an elaborate knot. This was more common in France than in America. Floppy bows of varying sizes, some quite large, were widely worn during the Fauntleroy Era (1885-1905). Almost all were perfectly tied in classic choir boy bows with the wings much larger than the tails. These bows could not possibly have been tie by the boys wearing them, especially the younger ones. And at the time there were no clip on versions. They were all masterly tied, certainly by mom. We doubt that even dad could have mastered the art. Image of floppy bows not being tied correctly are exceedingly rare. So rare in fact that we are left to wonder just what was going on in the few examples we have. And of course mothers would have been especially concerned that the bows were properly tied for a studio portrait. Perhaps the boys had the one mother in America who could not tie a floppy bow. Perhaps mother was ill. Or perhaps the boys did not like a floppy bows. Boys at the time usually did not have a lot to say about how they were dressed, but who know, America was a big country with endless diversity from family to family. But we are left without any definitive answer. Now not all Fauntleroy Era outfits had floppy bows. They were popular but optional items, but when we see them they are almost always properly and lovingly tied in the classic fashion.

Bow Ties

The modern bow-tie appears to be a direct descendent of the basic 18th-century stock. The bow tie was not initially a style of neckwear specifically associated with boys. We note what look like bow ties in the mid-19th cntury. We are not sure what they were clled at the time. American boys in the 1940s-60s often wore bow ties when they dressed up. This was especially true of younger boys under 12 or 13 years of age. The reason for the popularity of the bow tie is probably the clip on versions which permitted the boy to wear one with out tieing a knot. Today boys are less likely to wear ties at all, especially bow ties.

Created: November 6, 1999
Last updated: 8:25 AM 1/3/2016