Bows on Boys' Collars: Conventions--Situations


Figure 1.-- We are not entirely sure of the conventions for wearing floppy collar bow. Most of the photographs we have of boys wearing floppy bows are formal portraits or to a lesser extent school photographs. We are not entirely sure under what occassions boys wore these bows. These American boys were probably photographed in the 1880s.

We are not entirely sure of the conventions for wearing floppy collar bow. Most of the photographs we have of boys wearing floppy bows are formal portraits or to a lesser extent school photographs. We are not entirely sure under what occassions boys wore these bows. The large floppy bow was a dressy style. Meaning that boys wore them when dressing up for important occassions or school. But then again people dressed more formally during the late 19th and early 20th centuries when floppy bows were worn than is the case today. We do not know, for example, if boys when they came home from church, parties or school took their floppy bows off. A factor here is social class. Boys from wealthy families were expected to dress more formally than working class boys. The relative rarity of casual photography makes this question somewhat difficult to assess based on the photographic record. A useful photograph is the Clark boys in 1887. They are with their pony and dog, but as it is a wealthy family and obviously posed, we are still unsure about the conventions for floppy bows.







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Created: 6:00 PM 5/22/2007
Last updated: 6:00 PM 5/22/2007