Figure 1.--This French boy had his portrait taken about 1948. Separate blouses were not that common for very young children. Rather they wore romers with the tops styled like smocks or blouses. The top of his garment here is exactly the same for a blouse. The features might include: short puffed sleeves, Peter pan collar and buttoning at the back. The buttons were very small , and made in mother-of-pearl for the luxury model such as those seen here. Notice he wears a bracelet at his wrist , that means that he is baptized; In fact he was just baptized .

The ages at which boys wore blouses has varied over time. Through the early 1950s they were commonly made in sizes to about age 7, but some older boys also wore them. Till the late-1950s-early 60s, bloyses were worn by the the garçonnet 1 to 6 year old boys, commonly with puffed sleeves. Somewhat older boys might wear them until age 8 with a special outfit for formal occasions. One French reader rembers wearing fancy blouses until he was 9 years old. He writes, "I perfectly recall wearing these blouses. My mother thought my brother and I looked nice in them. We wore matching blouses. At the time I did not mind wearing them. I wore them until I was about 9 years old in the early 1950s. My brother and I normally were dressed in nice blouses for family outings and when we were having visitors at home. Rarely a week went bybwithout some occasions for putting on a nice blouse. In one family photo I was sit beside an important visitor and his wife. I was 8 years old at the time. I wore a suit with suspender short pants and a puffed sleeve blouse." Today they are worn only by baby boys and of course also by girls.

Infants

Here we see how very young French boys were commonly dressed from about 1936-68. Actually they are wearing rompers with the tops styled like blouses. Separate blouses were not that common for very young children. Rather they wore romers with the tops styled like smocks or blouses. The top of his garment here is exactly the same for a blouse (figure 1). The features might include: short puffed sleeves, Peter pan collar and buttoning at the back. The buttons were very small , and made in mother-of-pearl for the luxury model such as those seen here. The buttoning was normaly at the back for the 1-6 years model. The buttons were very small the most of the time white or clear.

3 Years Old

Blouses are still worn by French boys. A French reader tells us, "Lixury Parisian botiques in the early 2000s offered fancy blouses for very young boys, normally in sizes 1-3 years."

4 Years Old

5 Years Old

6 Years Old

Till the late-1950s-early 60s, bloyses were worn by the the garçonnet 1 to 6 year old boys, commonly with puffed sleeves. The blouses made for older boys (sizes 6-8 years) have the buttoning at the front. We notice blouses being offered for boys up to age 6 by Le Redoute in 1959.

7 Years Old

The ages at which boys wore blouses has varied over time. Through the early 1950s they were commonly made in sizes to about age 7, but some older boys also wore them.

8 Years Old

Somewhat older boys might wear them until age 8 with a special outfit for formal occasions. One French reader rembers wearing fancy blouses until he was 9 years old. He writes, "I perfectly recall wearing these blouses. My mother thought my brother and I looked nice in them. We wore matching blouses. At the time I did not mind wearing them. I wore them until I was about 9 years old in the early 1950s. My brother and I normally were dressed in nice blouses for family outings and when we were having visitors at home. Rarely a week went bybwithout some occasions for putting on a nice blouse. In one family photo I was sit beside an important visitor and his wife. I was 8 years old at the time. I wore a suit with suspender short pants and a puffed sleeve blouse." Today they are worn only by baby boys and of course also by girls.

9 Years Old

By about age 9 it became unusual for a boy to wear fancy blouses. There might be occassions such as a formal wedding for which fanvy blouses might be worn by boys 9-10 years old, but this was not very common.

Created: 5:03 PM 1/8/2005
Last updated: 7:16 PM 1/8/2005