Bows on Boys' Collars: Conventions


Figure 1.--Here is a cabinet portait of a brother and sister. The portrait was taken by "L.W. Zuver, Parkers Landing, Pennstlvania. (There were branches in Petrolia and East Brady. The brother wears a large floppy bow with a small collar. We are not sure at this time concerning the conventions as to wether a boy wore a bow or not. His sister wears a fancy dress with a neck locket. The portrait is undated, but the small collar suggests the 1870s, perhaps the late 1870s or early 80s as the bow is a good size. The collar itself is interesting. The front looks like a small Eton collar, but look how it speads out in back. I'm not sure what it was called.

We note boys during the late 19th and early 20th century wearing large collars both with and without different styles of bows. It seems to us that it was most common to wear bows, but we see quite a number of boys without bows as well. A good example is an unidentified American boy, perhaps in the 1870s. There were differences among countries as to the popularity of bows, but we do not yet have any detailed information as to fashion conventions as to wearing or not wearing them. A good example of a boy wearing a fancy blouse without a bow is a Canadian boy in 1897. We are not sure at this time what was involved in a mother's choice to use a bow or not. We have not yet been able to identify any social-class, regional, national, or other factors which may have affected this choice. As far as we can tell it just depended on the individual fashion sence of the mother involved. Perhaps some of our readers will be able to offer some insights here. We are hoping that the subject may be addressed in period fashion magazines.

Prevalence

We note boys during the late-19th and early-20th century wearing large collars both with and without different styles of bows. The floppy bows were an optional item. It seems to us that it was most common to wear bows, but we see quite a number of boys without bows as well. Many boys in the mid-19th century did not wear neckwear even when dressing up. A good example here is the Wallis brothersWallis brothers in 1852. We are not entirely sure how the prevalence varied over time, but neckwear seems much more common by the 1870s. A good example is an unidentified American boy, perhaps in the 1870s. Another example of a boy with a floppy bow is Robert Mason Hamilton, an American boy in 1897. Not all boys wore neckwear, even with fancy outfits, but bows were quite common at the turn of the 20th century. They gradually declined imn popularity and size during the early-20th centuyry. We note a New York boy wearing a Fauntleroy suit without a floppy bow, we think in the 1910s. Both Fauntleroy suits abnd floppy bows were declining in poularity at the time.

Country Trends

There were differences among countries as to the popularity of bows, but we do not yet have any detailed information as to fashion conventions as to wearing or not wearing them. A good example of a boy wearing a fancy blouse without a bow is a Canadian boy in 1897.

Deciding Factors

We are not sure at this time what was involved in a mother's choice to use a bow or not. We have not yet been able to identify any social-class, regional, national, or other factors which may have affected this choice. We do know that age was a factor. We have seen quite a number of portraits in which the younger boys have floppy bows and the older boys do not. As far as we can tell it just depended on the individual fashion sence of the mother involved. Perhaps some of our readers will be able to offer some insights here. We are hoping that the subject may be addressed in period fashion magazines.

Situations

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.







HBC




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Created: 4:20 PM 1/14/2006
Last updated: 9:17 AM 10/7/2013