Figure 1.--These unidentified American boys were probably photographed on the occassion of the older boy's Lutheran confirmation. (This is a guess on our part as American Germans were overwealmingly Protestant. Note the rosary. This suggests that the boys are Catholic. The rosary is primarily associazted with Catholics. There were Lutheran rosaries, but they were not nearly as common as Catholic rosaries.) The portrait is undated, but the clothing and cabinet mount look like the late-1890s to us. The studio was Miller in Kewaskum, Wisconsin. The older boy was probably 13-years old and wears a single breasted, vested, long pants suit. Knee pants were very common for boys at the time, but not as common in rural areas as the more fashionable cities. His younger brother wears a fancy dark colored blouse with a large ruffledd collar. Note the plaid floppy bow. He wears knee pants with black long stockings.

Sailor blouses and Fauntleroy blouses were very popular in the 1890s. The classic Fauntleroy blouses were for younger boys. These were the very fancy blouses that sometimes seemed to almost engulf small boys. There were not only large fancy collars, but also fancy trim down the front which could be admired when worn with the cut-away velvet jackets. A good example is an unidentified American boy in the 1890s. Another example is two New York City boys at the turn of the 20th century. Not all fancy blouses were Fauntleroy blouses, but blouses with large fancy collars showing the Fauntleroy influence were widely worn by boys up to age 12-13 years old. We see these blouses being worn to school. A good example is the 1st graders at the Tustin Grammar School in 1896. They commonly had large ruffled (but not lace collars) with back flaps. The collars were almost always rectangular. The Fauntleroy blouses worn by the younger boys were more varied. Unlike the Fauntleroy blouses which were usually white, these fancy blouses were for older boys were usually done in colors or patterns. They were often worn without a jacket during the summer. When worn with a jaclet, it was not the cut-away jackets the younger boys wore, but regular single- or double breasted suit jackets.

Created: 6:31 AM 11/22/2010
Last updated: 4:11 PM 6/25/2019